Chapters and Verses
by peregrin01
Summary: In canon, Hermione failed to notice that the inscription on the grave of Harry's parents was from the Bible. Pity, she could have found a hidden code...
1. Chapter 1

Chapters and Verses

**AN:** _When Harry and Hermione visited the graveyard in the Godric's Hollow, they read the inscriptions on the gravestones of Dumbledore's family and Harry's parents. How is it possible that Hermione, always the geek, failed to notice that those inscriptions were actually verses from the Bible? She is so smart that she should have cited the corresponding books, chapters and verses right away - that's what any adventuring geek would do. And when you are an adventurer and receive two pairs of numbers, the options are nearly limitless... _

They found the grave of Kendra and Ariana Dumbledore first. Harry was a little confused by the inscription:

_Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also._

Hermione was a little confused as well but from entirely different reasons than Harry.

They continued in their search until they found the grave of Harry's parents. The inscription downright scared Harry. It read:

_The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death._

Hermione just nodded her head. Harry kept staring at the gravestone, not wanting to believe what was written on it.

"What's wrong, Harry?" asked Hermione, sensing his distress.

"What's wrong?" wailed Harry. "I just found that my parents were dabbling in dark magic! Isn't that wrong enough?"

"What?! What makes you say that?" exclaimed Hermione.

"Are you blind? It's written right here. They were searching for immortality just like Vol..." cried Harry, pointing at the inscription. He didn't get to finish though, because Hermione smacked him on his head. They were both lucky that she did, because the Death Eaters would find out their location otherwise. However, that's irrelevant.

"Are you kidding me?" Hermione chastised Harry.

"Well, you can't deny that it looks suspicious," he defended himself.

Hermione grasped his shoulders and corrected his mistake, "It's from a letter to the Corinthians! Don't you know that?"

Unfortunately for Harry, he remained confused, "A letter to Corinthians? What letter? And what's in Corinth? My parents had friends in there?"

That drained the last reserves of Hermione's patience. She tackled Harry to the ground and started to throttle him. "Are you deliberately provoking me! It's from the Bible! Bible! Do you know what that is?!"

Harry attempted to answer but found it very difficult since he was being strangled. It took him a while before he managed to wheeze out, "Yes, I know. It's a book."

Hermione, who was almost willing to release him at the time, got angry again and resumed her attack on his throat with renewed vigour.

"It's two sets of books! Each book has multiple chapters which break into verses!" she shrieked in his ear.

It took some time before the things (Hermione, to be specific) calmed down.

"I'm sorry, OK?" apologized Harry for the twelfth time.

Hermione raised her hand to silence him and said, " Don't worry, it's not your fault. After all, it's me who's the intellectual here."

Harry scratched his scalp and asked Hermione, "You know, I still don't understand what those verses are doing on these graves."

Hermione nodded in contemplation and replied, "Yes, it's peculiar indeed. I'm quite surprised that there are wizards who know the scripture. Maybe the inscriptions are here for a reason."

"What kind of reason?" asked Harry.

Hermione gave no response and just took out her notebook and a pencil. She quickly jotted the following:

_Matthew 6:21, Corinthians(1) 15:26_

"What's that?" asked Harry.

"The first inscription can be found in Gospel according to Matthew, sixth chapter, twenty-first verse. The second one is from the first letter to the Corinthians, fifteenth chapter, twenty-sixth verse."

"How is it going to help us?"

"Well, now we've got two pairs of numbers. What if they mean something?"

Harry thought about it and then said, "Huh. Dumbledore would want us to know whether this was a real lead. Let's look around this very graveyard first."

"You're right. Let's find the twenty-first grave in sixth row."

After a while, they found that a wizard named Matthew and his wife were buried in the designated grave. Excitement engulfed Harry. "We were right, this can't be a coincidence!"

They examined the grave closely. It was old and weathered. While the years of birth and death of the witch were still readable, the first two numbers from the year of Matthew's birth were erased.

"Interesting," murmured Hermione and jotted the dates down.

Then they continued to twenty-sixth grave in fifteenth-row.

"Huh, Paul. It's a pity, it seems that our theory is incorrect." stated Harry when he examined the grave.

Hermione gave him another light smack on his head and informed him, "It was Paul who wrote the letters to the Corinthians! We are on the right track."

As before, the first two numbers from the year of birth were erased. Hermione wrote the numbers down again.

"So, what do you make of this?" asked Harry, looking over her shoulder.

"I think I've got an idea," answered Hermione. "Let's get out of here."

A while after they left, a creepy-looking hag arrived to the graveyard.

_"Where the hell are they?"_ she hissed in Parseltongue.

* * *

"So, what is it?" asked Harry when they were in their tent again.

Hermione pulled out an atlas, found a map of Africa and answered: "If we take the numbers we gained, we can use them as a latitude and a longitude. The two remaining numbers from the year of birth are degrees and the year of death denotes minutes and seconds. The resulting coordinates are pointing in the desert in the south-west of Egypt."

"And what's in Egypt?" asked Harry.

"Harry! Egypt is one of the oldest magical nations. If there is something ancient that can help us, it's right there."

Harry focused his sight on a wall of the tent and started to daydream. He imagined himself and Hermione exploring ancient ruins and unwittingly started to hum a certain melody.

Hermione interrupted his dreams though, "Harry! We have to take this seriously and progress with caution. This is not a movie!"

"OK, I understand that."

"Good. Now, we need to get supplies. Then we can travel to Egypt through Gibraltar or Sicily or Middle East..."

Harry and Hermione continued to make plans for several hours that night before they went to sleep.

* * *

"Nooo! Please, no more spiders! Spiders are creepy!" bawled Ron.

"Then tell me what are your friends up to!" shouted Bellatrix.

"I told you ages ago that I'll tell you everything."

"Oh, really? OK then, talk."

"They are after the Horcruxes of You-Know-Who!"

"His what?" asked Bellatrix in befuddlement.

"I'll take it from here, Bella," sounded a new voice from the entrance to the torture chamber. He strode forward and the door closed behind him with a loud thud.

After Bellatrix left, Voldemort grabbed Ron's chin in his hand and made him look in his eyes.

"So, my Horcruxes you say?" he asked.

"Yes, they want to destroy them all!"

Voldemort sighed and wanted to press the bridge of his nose when he remembered that he didn't have any. So, he just stroked his chin and said, "Hm, I'll have to post some guards to protect them. And possibly make some new ones from old boots and such..."

Then he turned back to Ron, pointed his bony finger on him and sharply asked, "Now, I've heard that Scrimgeour delivered some items to you and your friends."

"Yes! Some bequests from Dumbledore." confirmed Ron and proceeded to tell him about them.

Voldemort listened to him and them started to think aloud, "The sword is thankfully safe. The book is a bunch of nonsense supporting Dumbledore's moralistic opinions. The snitch is merely an emotional item so that leaves your lighter. What else does it do?!"

"I don't know, I swear I don't know!" pleaded Ron.

"Then you are of no more use to me. Avada Kedavra!"

The Dark Lord spent the whole night playing with Dumbledore's lighter, switching the lights in his room on and off. On, off, on, off. Yep, all night long.

* * *

Harry and Hermione appeared in the middle of the designated area. There was nothing but dunes all around them.

"OK, let's set up a camp," stated Harry. "We can start searching tomorrow."

Next day they settled into a routine they followed for next few days. They got up as soon as there was enough light, broke the camp and started to comb the desert. They made a break for lunch and some rest when the heat was the worst and then continued in their search until late night.

The fifth day something unexpected happened. They were searching like any other day, when Harry's snitch did something strange. It flew out of his pocket suddenly and began to hover above a spot in the desert.

"What is it doing?" asked Hermione.

"No idea. Let's try the spell," replied Harry. By "the spell" he meant a spell for detection of ruins buried under the sand.

Hermione said the incantation and stuck her wand in the ground at the end of the wand movement.

"There's something down there," she said slowly, as she was standing up.

"Well, let's find out what," stated Harry.

They started to remove the sand with their wands, first quickly, then more carefully as they drew near. They kept all the excavated sand on a heap next to the site in case they needed to cover their tracks. After some time they uncovered remains of a tower. Its upper parts were crumbled up but the condition of the walls steadily improved as they went deeper. Finally they reached the bottom of the tower and uncovered a door in one of the walls. Hermione brushed away the last grains of sand on the door and saw that there was an engraving.

"Look Harry! These are the same verses as at the graveyard!" she exclaimed.

Harry inspected the inscription and noted, "Somebody engraved this relatively recently, it can't be older then two decades."

"Do you think that Dumbledore was here?" asked Hermione.

Harry gave no answer and started to look for a way to open the door. They found quickly that there was nothing special about it and used a simple unlocking spell to gain access. A long descending stairs were revealed by the lights from the wands of the two adventurers.

Hermione nodded her head and told Harry "OK, let's move in."

"What about the tower?" asked Harry.

"We shouldn't leave any traces in case somebody comes here."

Once the door was secured behind them, Harry apparated himself back to the surface and pushed the mound of the excavated sand back into the tower. The desert sun and breeze removed any traces of the excavation before too long.

Once Harry rejoined Hermione, they followed the stairs deeper and deeper underground. Almost two hundred meters lower, the stairs came to a stop and they entered a small antechamber. There was a strong and heavy door on the other side and a small cavity next to it. The snitch flew forward and halted next to that cavity. Next moment, the snitch fell apart and a ring fell from its insides and clattered on the floor. Harry and Hermione looked at each other in confusion and then Harry picked the ring up and examined it.

"Look," said Hermione, who inspected the small hollow in the meantime.

Harry looked at the spot Hermione was pointing at and noticed that there was a small slot sized just for the ring. He inserted the ring in the slot. A light emitted from the stone on the ring and started to take shape. Before too long, a holographic image of Dumbledore stood before them.

"Harry, if you are hearing this, then I'm probably dead." it said to them.

"No kidding," whispered Harry.

The projection continued, "I found this place before the first war with Voldemort turned to worse. After that, I couldn't spare much time here and thus never got too far. Not to mention that I'm a scholar, not an adventurer. So, I've resealed the entrance in hope that I or somebody else will return here one day. If my estimates are right, then the Ministry has already fallen and you and your friends stand alone. I believe that this is your last chance to make things right. I don't know what exactly is down there but I'm sure it will be the greatest discovery ever made. However, you need to navigate through a series of tests. The ring serves as an activation key. Good luck, Harry."

The image disappeared and the door opened. The ring was released from the slot.

"That's it? No advice, no further information?" exclaimed Hermione.

"Yeah, why are you so surprised?" retorted Harry.

Harry collected the ring and Hermione re-lit her wand. They continued down the slightly descending corridor for about twenty more meters when the wand-light revealed another door to them. Shortly afterwards, Hermione's wand flickered and then stopped emitting light altogether.

"Well, bugger," said Harry and attempted to conjure some light himself but to no avail.

"Not entirely surprising - the tests would be redundant if you could use magic to circumvent them." remarked Hermione and started to dig in her backpack. She found a flash-light and turned it on. Luckily, it worked. They returned to the antechamber. Hermione opened the magically enlarged bag and started to unpack the things stored in there.

"I guess it won't work down there." commented Harry and joined her.

"Indeed. We can't risk that it will burst open. That could be almost like an explosion." she confirmed.

Harry imagined all the furniture inside the tent reverting to its original size. Hence, they packed almost all the food and most of their lighter equipment. The most difficult choice were the books - they couldn't bring even half of them. In the end, Hermione used transfiguration to make them lighter and smaller. Once the transfiguration was done, there were no lingering magical effects which could be disrupted.

When they were done, they set forth once again. They came to the door that they saw earlier and discovered some kind of a mechanism on it. It was composed of a number of concentric rings of stone (or some stone-like material to be precise). The mechanism wasn't in a peak condition, the millennia left their mark on it. Fortunately, it seemed that Dumbledore made an effort to clean it as best as he could without being able to take it apart.

Harry inserted the ring in the slot next to the door. There was a click inside and faintly glowing markings appeared on the circles. Hermione scratched her scalp and then tried to rotate the outer circle. It didn't operate smoothly but she managed to turn it by one click in the end. One of the other rings turned as well as the result.

"What is it? Some kind of rebus?" asked Harry.

"Indeed," replied Hermione. Then she turned all the remaining circles exactly once. After that, she thought for a few seconds and then arranged the mechanism in the correct setting (in which all the markings fit to each other). The door opened and the ring was once again released from the slot.

"That was amazing!" exclaimed Harry.

"Not really, this one was simple."

The tunnel continued downwards and started to wind to the right as well. The two friends followed it, barely registering that the door closed shut behind them. As they descended, Harry started to hum that certain melody again, "Tadadada, tadadaa. Tadadada, tadadadadada..."

Hermione wanted to admonish him but her anxiety got the better from her and she joined him instead. So they walked down the ancient tunnel side by side, illuminating their path by the flash light and humming the catchy melody. Their humming got gradually louder and more defined and soon, they started to stagger left and right to the tune. It would be quite a stylish way to explore the remnants of an ancient civilization if it weren't for the fact that their hummings diverged after a short while. They ceased their pathetic attempt at a musical production and started to bicker about how the song was supposed to continue. To be honest, neither of them was right because neither of them actually saw the films. Hermione had always been a geek and preferred to study rather than watch TV. As for Harry - well, let's say that he heard the song only once through the open window when he was weeding the garden and the Dursleys watched TV with their son.

After that, they continued in silence until they arrived at the second test. There was another mechanism, similar to the one they already encountered. Hermione insisted that Harry should solve that one. Harry was reluctant but Hermione was convinced that the following tests would require both of their intellectual power and that it would do no good for Harry to slack in the beginning. Harry finally surrendered with a sight and started tinkering with the rings. It took him a considerable longer time because the riddle was more complicated and since he had never been encouraged to develop his intelligence (unlike Hermione). Fortunately, his companion gave him a few hints to figure the system out.

All the following doors had the same unlocking mechanism but the riddle was getting more and more complicated. The fifth one had a nasty surprise for them - the behaviour of the rings wasn't constant, it periodically changed every few moves. When Hermione realized that, she wanted to smack herself on her forehead. After that, it wasn't difficult for her to figure the pattern out and solve the riddle. The next time, they took out a notepad and a pencil to make notes and calculations right from the start. And the next time, they came to a door that had remnants of notes written by chalk on it. More notes were on the walls around.

"It seems that this is as far as Dumbledore ever came. He couldn't solve the riddle." said Hermione after she looked them over.

Harry looked at the markings and remarked, "How did the chalk last for all those years? He was here at least two decades ago."

"That's magical chalk - used by curse-breakers in ancient tombs for example."

Harry remained silent for a few seconds and then said, "You know, that's just pathetic. Every time there's a logical hole, somebody comes with an explanation leaning on magic."

"No comment," snapped Hermione and took out a notepad.

It was a tough one but the path was opened to them before too much time passed. Hermione wondered why the two of them were able to solve something that stumped Dumbledore himself but Harry reminded her that he had been quite old and, like his projection said, he had not had much time.

"Now when I think about it, he probably spent a large part of his life just searching for this place," concluded Harry.

They continued deeper and deeper underground, solving more and more sophisticated rebuses. Their flash-lights also stopped working and they had to use fluorescent sticks. In the end they arrived at a door that was decorated more richly than the previous ones. Hermione took a deep breath and her brain almost started to quiver in the expectation of the intellectual stimulation. They opened a fresh notebook and started to work.

About a half an hour later Harry said, "You know, I've been wondering."

"Yes?" replied Hermione in an absent tone.

"I mean, this is it? You prove you are smart and then you gain access to something so... Well, I don't know what but it's surely something big."

"I doubt that these ring-puzzles are anything more than a warming round. The basic idea is, that the builders of this place wanted to allow passage only to those who would share their main qualities. And one of those qualities was obviously intellect."

Harry made no comment to that and they continued to work in silence. That lasted only for a quarter of an hour. After that, Hermione let out an exasperated sigh and put the notebook down. She knew nothing about the lock, except for the change in the behaviour of the rings which happened after every move and showed no signs of an apparent pattern.

"You can't figure it out," stated Harry.

"WE can't figure it out," retorted Hermione. "I don't see you coming with any bright ideas either."

Harry leaned his head back so it rested on the stone wall. He watched Hermione's struggle for a moment and then snickered. The girl turned to him, her face showing clear signs of anger.

"I've got an idea!" shouted Harry quickly.

Hermione narrowed her eyes.

Harry continued, "Look. Till now, all the previous locks were sort of building up to the next one. The principle of each rebus was always an extension of the principles of all the previous ones. Also, the builders of this place wanted us to prove whether we were able to use our brains for something other than magic - I believe we've proven it by now."

"Is there some kind of point in this?" asked Hermione.

"Of course there is. Like I've said, our ability to think was already tested. What if this lock is supposed to test our ability to think out of the box?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I think we need a new approach to this. I bet it's something different, something simple that we wouldn't think about."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Show me your notes."

Hermione handed him her notebook and Harry started to leaf through it, penning their findings on a piece of paper in a more condensed form.

"It's not periodic, that's for sure," he stated.

"It must be - it's a mechanism."

"Sure, we would get to the initial state - in a few months. Plus, there could always be some kind of irrational explanation based on magic." Harry smirked at Hermione as he said that. The girl just shook her head dismissively.

Harry finished rewriting the notes after some time and examined the result. However, even his simplified version was too complicated for him so he started to chart it into various graphical representations. Hermione voiced her doubts but Harry just handed her the notes back and asked her to look over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't making any mistakes. The witch rolled her eyes but obliged him.

When Harry finished his work, he began to study his charts, looking for any sign of a pattern. Hermione sat on the floor and rested her back against a wall. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. About five minutes later, she was roused from her relaxation by a soft humming. She opened her eyes and looked at Harry. He was still holding his notes but his eyes were closed. He was silently humming.

"What are you doing? I've told you that this is not a movie!" reprimanded him Hermione.

Harry opened his eyes and dryly answered, "I think I know what kind of pattern we need to look for. I'm just not sure whether I'm able to figure it out, since I know nothing about music."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've been looking at one of my graphs and something nudged me about it. And then I remembered my music class back at the elementary school. You see, the guy who taught it taught math as well..."

He didn't get to finish because Hermione snagged the papers from his hands.

"I have no expertise in this area though. What about you?" added Harry.

"Well, my parents made me take piano lessons when I was small."

"So you know how to write notes?"

"That's a moot point - ancient Egyptians did not notate their music."

Harry contemplated something for a moment and then asked, "You know, what about if it weren't the ancient Egyptians who built this place?"

"Well, so far we haven't seen anything that would indicate otherwise. And who would build this if not them?"

"True," agreed Harry.

Hermione examined Harry's notes. After a while, she saw a possible pattern. She had no way of knowing for sure whether it was any good but the data they had got fitted in. However, they still had a problem with the fact that they had no starting point(s). Hermione concluded that it meant that such a point wasn't needed and focused on the mathematical aspect. In a half an hour, she expressed the behaviour of each ring and relationships of every ring with all the others as a set of differential equations. Those proved to be unsolvable however.

Hermione wanted to use numerical integration to help them in their search for a solution but Harry stopped her, claiming that they didn't have enough food to survive that long. Hence, they returned to the idea that the solution should be simple and attempted to solve the equations from the other side - instead of integrating the input, they tried to "guess" possible results and derive them instead. After ten minutes, Harry had an idea about the inner rings being derived from the outer ones. Hermione checked it and it was true. Then it took her another fifteen minutes to solve the equations.

In the end, they were looking on a mathematical description of the behaviour of the rings - all of it fitted on a single page. Hermione took it in her left hand and started to turn the circles by her right hand, using the paper as a reference. With the advantage of being able to predict the behaviour of the rings, the door was opened finally and they could proceed. They made sure that everything about the final solution was properly recorded - Harry had a feeling that they might need those data in the future (considering that the previous rebuses were based on those before them).

As they walked, they discussed whether they should continue or stop and rest. However, before they could decide whether they had energy to solve one more door, it became apparent that the last circle-rebus was truly the last. They arrived in a circular room which was positioned, according to their rough map, right underneath the ruin of the tower. In the middle of the room was a small column with a slot for the ring on top of it.

Harry nodded towards it and asked, "Shall we?"

Hermione thought about for a few moments. She was curious about what lied ahead so she agreed to explore further. They walked forward and Harry inserted the ring. Nothing happened at first but then there was a tremor that almost sent the two teens sprawling on the floor. The entire floor moved and when Harry and Hermione looked around, they saw that the walls were moving upwards. They glanced back at the corridor they arrived from and saw it disappearing into the ceiling.

"It's some kind of a lift," said Hermione, trying to stabilize herself.

They descended for about five minutes but their speed wasn't very great by their estimation. Still, it was noticeably colder when they came to a stop and they had to put on the additional clothing they had packed. As they were doing so, an exit opened in the wall. Harry raised a glowing stick towards it and peered into the dark tunnel. He felt a light draft coming from there. The air also felt moister.

"Let's see where it leads," he said and they carefully walked forward.

The tunnel proceeded for about twenty meters before it opened to a large and dark space. Harry gave Hermione a quick glance and then threw his glowing stick into the darkness. They watched as the stick sailed through the empty space until it clattered on the floor. The bottom line was, it didn't illuminate anything else than that floor.

"This place is large," whispered Hermione.

Harry clicked his tongue against his palate. There was no echo. He took a breath but a glare from the girl next to him stopped him.

"I hope you weren't about to shout," she said.

Harry ignored her comment and told her to cover her fluorescent stick. Then he turned away from the stick in the distance and gazed into the darkness.

"Is it just me or is there some ambient light above us?" he asked after a while.

"Are you sure that your eyes aren't deceiving you?"

"Huh. Let's explore this place."

Hermione broke another stick and left it at the mouth of the tunnel. Then they followed the wall of the cavern clockwise but found no other exits. They estimated that the cavern had over forty meters in diameter. The floor was made of some kind of a strong black material they had not encountered in the upper levels. It wasn't stone but it wasn't metal either - rather something in between. On the other hand, the walls looked like natural rock and their shape was irregular.

When they reached their original entry point, they lit a few more sticks and threw them around. It appeared that the cavern was empty - they found nothing but a smooth floor around them. The only exception was a pillar located near the entrance to the cavern. The pillar was similar to the one in the lift.

"Shall we?" asked Harry, nodding towards the cavity on the top of it.

"Go on," agreed Hermione after a moment.

Harry put the ring in there. There was a mechanical click and the ring was locked in place. Then it briefly glowed. Nothing happened at first but after a while, the darkness around them started to be replaced by a dim gloom. The two teens covered any glow-sticks around then and started to gaze above them once again. Soon, their eyes got used to the low level of the light.

They saw that while the walls around were of natural origin and irregular on a small scale, the whole cavern was perfectly circular on the large one. The ceiling formed a dome above them. The ceiling was also where the source of the light was located - or sources to be more precise. There were several dozens of faintly glowing crystals embedded in the rock above their heads. It was obvious that they were organized to form some kind of a structure but Harry and Hermione were unable to figure it out at the moment. (They would need the crystals to glow more strongly for that.) The crystals seemed to be similar or even identical in their shape but varied in size.

As they gazed above them, they missed a moment when the cavity where the ring was placed closed itself and the whole pillar started to slide down. Harry tried to grab it but couldn't do anything to prevent it from disappearing into the floor. Hermione remarked that maybe they no longer needed the ring. Harry just nodded and they set out to explore the room once again.

They noticed that there was another set of crystals which formed a circle around the whole dome. They were different in shape than those on the ceiling and were about two meters above the floor. Harry and Hermione weren't sure whether the crystals were in place while they were exploring before. The crystals were also darker - there was almost no light coming from them. Harry touched one and it brightened under his hand. Hermione noticed that some of the crystals on the ceiling also glowed brighter at that moment.

"OK, I'd say that we can call it a day. I need to rest before facing more riddles," she said.

They opened two cans of soup and started to eat them cold.

"Are you still convinced that it was the ancient Egyptians who built this?" asked Harry between the mouthfuls.

"Well, I've got to admit that what I see is less and less resembling what I know about that culture. But as I said: who else would have built this?" answered Hermione.

"I don't know. Somebody who was here before them."

"And who might have that been, huh? The first advanced civilization in this area were the Egyptians and there are no signs of any other culture that was here before that."

"No signs? And what about this place, isn't that enough for you? Look, what if the civilization that built this was really, really, really old. So old, that they were a matter of myths even for the ancient Egyptians. And Dumbledore probably followed those myths when he was tracking this place down."

Hermione folded her arms and said with a sarcastic tone, "Harry, that's a great theory - a pre-ancient civilization that was far more advanced then we are today, reached its peak and then mysteriously vanished, leaving only a few Egyptian myths. There is one great problem with your theory however."

"Is that so? Well, let's hear it."

"The thing is, the humankind isn't as old as one might think. As a species, I mean. Our kind was around only for fifty thousand years - that might seem as a long time but not when you compare it to our known history."

"I don't understand."

"Look, fifty thousand years ago, there was a certain small number of people similar to us, but not entirely like us. Their genes were still optimized for strength and resiliency, not intelligence. Now, archaeology and history teaches us that it took humanity about ten thousand years to get from primitive tribes to modern society and there aren't any signs of civilized life before that. That leaves us with forty thousand years of unfocused development ridden by pure luck to get from what I've said earlier to the beginning of that ten-thousand-year path. Are you getting it? There simply wasn't enough space for any pre-ancient civilizations to rise and crumble again without leaving any traces of their existence. Everything we know about the history of this planet tells us that we are the first people to ever reach this level of technological advancement!"

Harry stared at her for a while and then said, "So what? Maybe it simply wasn't a human civilization."

Hermione stared back at him dubiously for a while and then dead-panned, "OK, I'm sort of surprised that it took you so long to come up with this ridiculous idea. Yeah, an ancient alien race came to Earth, uplifted the humanity, taught us magic and then vanished without a trace, leaving only ruins and artifacts behind them. You know, that's just old. I'm not even going to reply to that."

"But you just did," snipped Harry. The flash in Hermione's eyes kept him from saying anything else.

They rolled out the two blankets they brought and used them as mattresses. It wasn't exactly comfortable but it was better than lying on a bare floor. They had no additional blankets to cover themselves so they just put their bags over their bellies and pressed their backs to each other. A complete silence reigned the dome once more and before the kids fell asleep, they had a feeling that they heard some kind of a humming coming from above.

Harry and Hermione woke up after several hours of sleep, all sore and stiff from their uncomfortable sleep. They moved around to get warm for a while and then had some breakfast.

"OK, time to solve this," said Hermione afterwards.

Harry nodded and added, "I guess those crystals on the walls are some kind of control elements and we need to set them in a right configuration to get further."

Hermione walked to the nearest control crystal and touched it. A row of crystals on the ceiling lit up, just like the previous day. Harry proposed to remain silent for a while and listen. Once again, they managed to hear the silent humming coming from the crystals on the ceiling but touching the control crystal didn't make it any louder. In fact, there was no visible way to operate it.

They pondered this problem for some time. Hermione tried to touch the crystal with her wand but nothing happened. Still, Harry was convinced that they weren't supposed to operate the crystal physically. He touched the crystal with both hands and focussed his will on it. Nothing happened and Harry realized that he actually didn't know what he was supposed to make happen.

And so a long and tedious process of attempt and error began. After several hours, they realized that they weren't going to solve this puzzle quickly. They tried to touch two crystals at the same time but that only caused everything go dark until one of them released the crystal. Harry then attempted to push some magic into the crystal (like when he had performed accidental magic when he was small). Hermione reasoned that it probably wasn't going to work since it was logical that it wasn't required to be a wizard to pass the tests. Still, Harry kept trying since Hermione had no better ideas.

It wasn't until the end of the day that Harry managed to push the right kind of magic into his crystal. For a moment, the crystals that were highlighted at the time started to hum louder and at a higher tone. Harry was startled and lost contact with the control mechanism which caused the volume to drop again. However, he was sure that if he listened intently, he would hear that the crystals retained the tone. The event got Hermione on her feet as well and the two teens began to discuss the implications.

After a few more hours, they figured the controls out. They weren't sure whether there was actually any flow of magical energy at all (since it was impossible in that place) or whether the crystals reacted on their thoughts alone but it was obvious that they needed to focus as if they actually wanted to perform magic. Fortunately for them, it appeared that the controlling mechanism was quite simple: up or down. All they had to do was to touch a crystal and then push their intent on it, as if it was a wand. Intentions connected with chaos and fire made the corresponding sound-crystals to tune up, while order and frost tuned them in the opposite direction.

Harry and Hermione went to sleep afterwards, not having sufficient presence of mind to actually start solving the actual riddle. Hermione hoped that they were going to be able to go further the next day since she had no desire to camp in the cavern any longer than necessary. They started to play with the control crystals, attempting to make the crystals to play a sound that would hopefully do something. They discovered that they couldn't tune the crystals impossibly low, there was a minimal frequency and the crystals couldn't go any lower. At that minimal frequency, the crystals played a tone that was quite deep, but well enough in the spectrum of human hearing. Also, this deepest tone was reachable only by a half of the control crystal - every second crystal had a minimal frequency twice as high (that is an octave higher). Furthermore, the tuning wasn't continuous but happened in steps. An octave was divided in sixteen degrees. They found nothing else after those discoveries and quite soon, Hermione saw the fruitlessness of their doing.

"OK, we need to think about this. We need some kind of a clue or a reference point." she said.

Harry sat on the floor and started to think. Hermione didn't wish to admit it but she hoped that he would come up with something. Finally, he spoke, "You know, I believe we already have it."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just think about it. The jamming field in this place is impressive and the last door was pretty tricky but in the end, any old Pharaoh with a hundred of slaves equipped with pickaxes could have reached this place. But it would have been of no use to him! Why? Because the doors weren't puzzles, they were clues. Especially the last one!"

Hermione agreed that it was kind of obvious in retrospective. They picked a crystal right next to the entrance and turned it on the deepest tone. Harry's logic was that it didn't matter which crystals played which tones, only the resulting sound was important. Hermione went to another crystal and started to tune it based on the solution of the last door-rebus.

During the next few hours, their greatest problem was their lack of musical talent. Fortunately, they weren't required to do anything difficult - they tuned always one set of crystals at a time, using the previous set as a reference. Presuming that they could tell that two tones were identical, all they had to do was to count out the appropriate amount of degrees carefully.

Slowly but surely, the two teens worked through the crystals until Hermione came to the last one. "How are we going to know whether its working?" she mused. Harry stopped touching the previous crystal and Hermione began to work on hers. "And here we go." she said and pushed the last impulse.

Immediately, volume of all the crystals went up and the control ones went dark. Hermione pulled her hand away from her crystal and true enough, the sound remained strong - the puzzle was solved. The final chord played by all the crystals at once was quite nice but Harry and Hermione had little time to admire it. A deep rumbling started somewhere high above them and they began to feel slight shaking.

"I believe we should get going," said Hermione.

"Where?!" asked Harry.

"I don't know. Start packing!"

They rushed to their things and started to pack the most necessary things (like food). When the shaking increased, Harry looked up from his backpack. Then he nudged Hermione. A circular portion of the floor in the middle of the dome started to glow and it seemed that it changed its consistency. At that moment, they heard a loud cracking coming from the elevator shaft and then crashing of tons of rock. A gust of dust came from the tunnel.

They closed their backpacks and stepped towards the circle on the floor. A stone came loose from the ceiling and dropped on the circle, disappearing through it, leaving small ripples in its wake. Harry and Hermione leaned forward and saw some kind of a room under the floor.

"I guess we need to go through," shouted Harry.

"Is it safe?" yelled Hermione.

The dome itself started to quake then and Harry tossed his backpack forward. It didn't fall through immediately - the glowing surface was rather jelly like. The backpack partially sank in the floor, then some jelly started to creep over it until it was completely enveloped by the substance. Then it sank completely, disappearing momentarily from their sights until they saw it reappear in the room bellow.

Hermione shook her head hesitatingly and pondered, "I don't think that this is an actual gate. It's more likely a portal."

"Even cooler," snapped Harry and jumped in.

Hermione looked around and saw that the cavern was going to collapse. Having no other choice, she followed Harry. A large pieces of the ceiling started to fall down along with the playing crystals. Then the floor solidified again and everything came crashing down. Nothing but a slight depression in the desert above marked the remnants of the greatest discovery in human history.


	2. Deeper and Deeper

Deeper and Deeper

Harry and Hermione materialized inside a dimly lit, oblong room. The floor, the walls and the ceiling were all made of the same black material they saw in the dome. The room was littered with debris that came in with them. The air wasn't stale but it wasn't entirely fresh either and they felt no draft.

Harry looked up at the solid ceiling above them and asked, "Do you've got any idea where we might be? Do you think we are still in Egypt for that matter?"

Hermione shrugged he shoulders and mused, "Hard to say. One might say that the portal was more limited in the distance than portkeys, since we were teleported through a lot of rock. Then again, the teleportation occurred between two linked, preprepared places. So, we might be quite far from the original spot and what's even more important, quite deeper."

Harry stopped in his track for a moment and then asked in a worried voice, "You mean, we might be really, really deep? Like deeper than the Earth's crust?"

Hermione looked at him condescendingly and retorted, "Jump a few times, will you?"

Harry looked at her in incomprehension but then he did as he was told.

"See?" said Hermione.

"What?"

"The gravity! There is the same gravity here as it is on the surface!"

Harry narrowed his eyes but then he understood. "Oh. Oh! That's great!" he exclaimed.

"What worries me is that right now, we are far beyond the point of return," stated Hermione.

"You are right. So let's get going."

They walked to an end of a room where there was something which looked like a door. There was no visible control mechanism but once they approached it, glowing lines appeared on its smooth surface. The lines formed a drawing of a circle rebus.

"Those are the markings from the first puzzle!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Oh no! Not again!" whined Harry.

"We'll see," said Hermione and touched one of the circles. It acted as some kind of a touch-pad and the circle moved under her finger. Once she made her move, the other circles realigned in the expected way. Then the markings changed.

"Let me guess, this is the second puzzle, right?" asked Harry.

Hermione nodded.

"Well, here we go with the same pattern as before. We are being checked whether we really went through the path prepared by the creators of this place."

Hermione made no answer and opened her notes. In about fifteen minutes, she found out that even though she wasted one move, they should be able to align the circles before they became the last puzzle (assuming the markings kept changing in the same way). They agreed that it would be wise not to try to find out what would happen if they didn't.

The "touch-pad" kept behaving as expected. When it became the next to the last puzzle, Hermione made the last move after which the markings took the appearance of the ones on the last puzzle. The rings disappeared, only the markings remained and glowed brightly. Then the markings from the first puzzle started to appear again. The lines were faint and blurry but were becoming brighter and more defined with each second. Harry and Hermione noticed that both sets of markings overlapped at one place. Then the set of markings from the second puzzle appeared in the same manner.

"Holy crap!" exclaimed Harry when he saw the final picture.

"Indeed." agreed Hermione, not even bothering to correct Harry's language.

The final drawing showed them what they missed: the way the markings on each consecutive puzzle fit with the previous ones could clue them in solving them. Moreover, all markings combined formed some sort of scheme of the solution of the crystal puzzle in the dome.

"Do you feel as stupid as I do right now?" asked Hermione.

"No, you are the geek here. You should have seen it."

"Well, and you are the one who always notices the things I miss."

The glowing lines disappeared and the door started to slide sideways. The two adventurers stepped into the hallway and looked around. The hallway was moderately lit by light emanating from the corners between the ceiling and the walls.

"Do you think it was some kind of a message, or just a taunt for being stupid? And how does this place know that we didn't use the clue?" mused Harry.

"It probably doesn't. And if it's a message, then its purpose is to remind us to keep thinking out of the box." pondered Hermione.

In one direction, the hallway was turning left after several metres. In the other direction, they saw a door similar to the one they came from. They approached it and noticed an oval shaped area on the wall next to the door. It was made of a different material and when they looked closely, it appeared to be similar to a non-transparent glass. When Harry touched it however, it cleared and they could see inside the room behind. Hermione gasped - the floor was covered with human skeletons, most of them almost crumbled to dust. There were some appliances on the walls which looked like some kind of mounted alien weapons.

"What a hell is that? The previous travellers?" exclaimed Harry.

"Probably not. Remember that the dungeon collapsed after we activated the portal so nobody could have used it before us." disagreed Hermione.

"Those bones look old."

"Yes, they probably arrived not too long after this place was built. The only reason why there's anything left of them is the lack of exposure to elements. Look, this place is probably a powerful teleportation anchor. What if somebody tried to get here through their own portal and the builders had foreseen that? I believe that anybody who wouldn't arrive through proper means would be redirected inside this trap."

Harry stared through the glass for a while and then said, "Huh. Now I know what was the purpose of the message - they wanted to lighten the mood before we see this."

Hermione shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Well, would you be gladder if somebody like Voldemort got inside?"

Without saying another word, both of them turned and ventured in the another direction. Two turns later, they arrived to a door. There was something like a large button next to it. Harry pushed it and the door opened. An oblong, empty room was revealed to them. They glanced at each other and proceeded through the door.

"So, do you think it's going to be all easy from now on?" asked Harry as they walked.

Just as he finished speaking, the door slammed shut behind them and the walls started to glow.

"You just had to say it, didn't you!" accused Hermione.

Certain points on the wall glowed more strongly then the background and started to emit some kind of rays.

"It's going to cut as apart!" screamed Harry and covered his face.

The rays washed over them and the two teens felt a tickling all over their bodies. They screamed and prepared for pain but that never came. They opened their eyes and saw that all their limbs were still attached to their bodies. Then they noticed that their backpacks and other things were floating beside them in the air and were being slowly disintegrated by the light coming from the walls.

"Ha! We are alive!" rejoiced Harry.

"My books! My books!" wailed Hermione.

The fun ended when they were immobilized and lifted in the air as well. The rays focussed on them once more but instead of disintegrating their bodies, it merely started to destroy their clothes. Hermione yelped as she felt her hair being cropped at a length of one millimetre and the contents of her digestive tract vanish. Even their eyebrows weren't spared. Their eyelashes were cropped only a little on the other hand. Any hard skin on Harry's heels was scraped away as well. Finally, the walls dimmed and the rays retreated and Harry and Hermione were released. They immediately turned away from each other. The door on the other side of the room opened.

"Hell, this is awkward," commented Harry.

"Not one word! Not one bloody word!" threatened Hermione. "Let's go, you first," she added.

Harry considered saying something about her spying on his posterior but bit that remark down. They walked out of the room.

"You know, maybe this place have been really built by aliens and they want us to be nicely prepared for their sick experiments," mused Harry.

"And maybe the builders didn't want us to smuggle anything in." snapped Hermione.

They walked for a few moments when Harry suddenly froze and turned around. "Our wands! That blasted thing destroyed our wands!" he cried.

Hermione shrieked and attempted to cover herself with her arms. She partially turned away and crouched. "Turn away you idiot!" she yelled.

"Oh, sorry!" croaked Harry and did as he was told. "Still, our wands..." he added.

"I guess we won't be needing them," interrupted him Hermione.

They kept walking while Harry muttered something about sick aliens under his breath. They turned a corner, walked through a long and narrow corridor and stopped at another door.

"Well?" asked Harry over his shoulder.

"Go on," prodded him Hermione.

Harry opened the door. In front of them was another room. It was slightly smaller but wider than the previous one and there was a row of strange chambers embedded in the opposite wall. When Harry and Hermione came closer, they saw that they were made of metal, which was an anomaly. Suddenly, two of the chambers opened and lightened up. They were padded by some kind of a jelly on the inside and were just large enough for one person to fit in.

"Do you think we are supposed to go in there?" asked Hermione.

"No way!" protested Harry and covered his rear hole.

"Oh come on!" exclaimed Hermione and walked forward.

Harry quickly averted his eyes as she entered his field of view so he only heard as the girl stepped in and as the door door closed. When he looked back, he only saw her head through a small window - she was motioning to him with her eyes to get inside the neighbouring chamber. Harry groaned and did as she wanted. The door closed once he positioned himself in the human shaped cavity in the padding. Then some kind of an apparatus lowered itself on his head. His heart began to beat faster as fear and doubt filled his mind.

Suddenly, a strange sleepiness started to creep on Harry. That alarmed him and he strived to fight it which was no easy task since he was on his feet for the whole day. He forced his eyes open, breathed deeply and did all he could to work himself up. In the silence of the chamber, he could almost hear his blood pulsing in his temples. He focussed on that feeling and then for some reason tried to move his legs.

_His breathing was heavy, his heart raced and his feet under him were like sewing machine needles. It was quite hot this summer and he felt the sun burning on his neck. He looked back over his shoulder, he was quite far away from Dudley and his gang - the heat did the fat pig no favour. He saw a policemen slowly patrolling a neighbourhood and slowed to a leisure trot, he was safe. Dudley and his friends gave up but Harry realized that he was going to be in trouble with uncle Vernon for trying to get Dudley in trouble. _

Harry experienced the scene exactly as it happened all those years ago without realizing that it wasn't real. The scene then changed and he appeared in the graveyard in Little Hangleton. He clutched his wand in his hand and the fight began. Then there was another memory and another. When all the violent memories were exhausted, Harry started to remember the other ones. His education at Hogwarts, his friends, summers with the Weasleys and such. In the end, Harry saw memories from his childhood that he had trouble remembering himself. Unsurprisingly, the final scene was the one of the death of his mother. A bright flash of green light was the last thing he saw before darkness covered everything.

Some time later, Harry started to wake up slowly. His neck was stiff and he had some drool on his chin. The padding of the chamber felt warm, like duvets at morning. There was a beeping noise and some blinking lights. The device was gone.

Harry realized that he actually fell asleep and some blurry recollections from his dream crossed his mind. Before he had time to consider what it all meant, the chamber shook and started to move. The room they came from slowly disappeared from his sight as the chamber slid backwards and then started to rotate. Another room similar to the previous one came into view. Then it all came to a stop and the door of the chamber opened. Harry stepped outside and saw Hermione leaving her own chamber next to him. They quickly remembered to turn away from each other. Behind them, the chambers closed again and started to return to their initial setting.

"Did the same thing that happened to me happened to you as well?" asked Harry.

"It pulled a lot of knowledge about the current world from me, both magical and mundane. Politics, economics, law, organisation and especially the current situation with Voldemort. I guess it was getting an update - whatever that 'it' is." replied Hermione.

Harry made a face and sighed. Hermione couldn't see his face but she felt the tension.

"Harry?" she asked.

He confided in her that it was mostly a rehash of his greatest nightmares. She told him that she was sorry but inside, she pondered what it all meant.

When they gathered themselves a bit, they approached the door in front of them. Harry opened and they walked through. The door slammed shut behind them and they saw that there were no apparent means of opening them again. They just shrugged their shoulders and continued towards the door on the opposite side of the corridor.

Behind the door was a large room looking like a dining hall. The walls weren't as blank as before and while they were of the same stone-metallic material there were also elements made of some kind of brown stone which were there for decorative purposes only probably. The long table in the middle and any other furniture was of the same material.

However, what captured Hermione's attention was some kind of metallic device looking like a small closet. There was a window on its front side through which they could see something like a coat rack inside. There were two overall suits on the rack. The girl wasted no time and started to look for a way to open the closet. Harry waited facing away from her. Finally, he heard the closet open with a hiss and one of the overalls landed on his shoulder. He grabbed it and slipped his legs inside the suit. Soon enough, he noticed that the suit was made to hug curves and shapes he didn't posses.

"Hermione? I believe this one is yours," he told his friend.

She looked at him over her shoulder and he pointed at some of the most profound parts of the suit.

"You've got to be kidding me," she gritted out and briefly considered keeping Harry's suit.

They did the exchange in the end. She had to admit that the rise in comfort was significant and while the inner layer did shape around certain areas indeed, the outer layer evened that shaping out. There was another thought that nibbled on Hermione's mind though.

"Have you noticed how well it fits?" she asked.

"Uh-huh. Not too big, not too small. Almost as if..."

"As if it was made for the two of us?"

Harry nodded. While it would be no big feat for somebody like McGonagall to transfigure or oven conjure such clothes, it was quite impressive for something like that to be done by some kind of an automated system. Then again, everything they saw so far was impressive but it still gave them quite an insight into the nature of the place. It was the little things like those suits that indicated that the builders wanted them to walk the were currently walking.

Harry and Hermione continued in examining the overalls and putting them on. It seemed that between the inner and outer layer was something like delicate tubing and wiring. Hermione said that it was possible that the suits contained a circulation system and some cybernetics. Some kind of socks/shoes with soft soles were also part of the overalls. The zipping system was interesting. The opening was classically at the front, starting at the waist level. They couldn't find any zipping mechanism, until Harry thought to simply pull the opposite sides to each other. The fabric at the place of contact glowed briefly and meshed together. Harry continued like that from bottom to top. Hermione wondered for a moment whether unzipping the suits was going to be equally simple but them decided that the risks were quite worth of not having to walk around with a cleavage that ran down to her belly.

Once they were both fully clothed, they started to look around. The door they entered through was integrated into the wall almost seamlessly. They took it as a sign that they wouldn't be going back that way. The only other way out of the hall was a door on the other side which was closed at the moment. About a third of the room was (partially) separated by a thin, low wall. The space was filled with bunks mostly but there were some benches/sofas as well. After a while of searching, they noticed drawers under the bunks which contained vacuum bags with bed covers.

The sleeping area had two sub-areas, which were completely walled of. Opening their doors revealed something resembling a bathroom. There was no water but, as was later discovered, disintegrating rays like the ones they had encountered earlier made a perfect substitute.

What intrigued them most was a device next to the table in the main area. It was made of metal, just like the closet. It consisted of a massive cube with some symbols and possibly control elements on it. There was a box attached on the top of the cube. It was opened on one side. They walked around the device in wonder and examined it from all sides.

"What are those symbols? Egyptian hieroglyphs?" asked Harry.

"I don't think so. It's more like pictograms."

"You mean, like some kind of a graphic help?"

"Possibly. Maybe it tells us what it is and how should we operate it."

Harry crouched and closely examined the symbols.

"I don't know about you but it seems to me that it has something to do with food." he said.

Hermione looked at the dining table next to them and then back at the device. "That's hardly surprising." she remarked.

"And your hands should go here I think..." mumbled Harry and did as the pictures indicated. Then he used what he learned when he operated the crystals in the dome and concentrated. He tried to imagine a steak with French fries and a large glass of soda.

"Harry!" cried Hermione.

In front of their eyes, a dish materialized under a net of rays similar to the disintegrating ones. What was also peculiar was the fact that the device didn't give Harry exactly what he wanted but rather used Harry's imagination as a template to search in a set of approved sustenance. The meat wasn't fried but baked and fries were replaced by mashed potatoes. Some stewed carrot and some other fresh vegetables were added. The glass of soda was replaced by a goblet of water of course. The eating utensils were strange: it was a pair of spoons, one of them was rather flat. Harry wondered whether he was supposed to use them in a similar way as chopsticks.

"Are those potatoes, Harry?" asked Hermione.

He looked at her in confusion at first but then he understood and tasted them. He nodded.

Hermione shook her head and mused, "That's strange. While potatoes were domesticated in Peru almost ten thousand years ago, they didn't appear in Europe until the sixteenth century."

Harry grinned and retorted, "Well, excuse me. I don't think that it was much of a trouble for the builders of this place to teleport to South America. In fact, they probably did a few circles around the Earth after they entered the orbit."

Hermione shook her head again while Harry collected his food. Then she did as he did and a little while later, she was sitting down next to Harry with a bowl of salad with goat cheese and tuna.

"See? The device didn't need to correct my order." she remarked.

They ate their meals in silence and then retired to the sleeping area. When they awoke the next morning, they saw that some lights lit up above the exit from the room. They approached the door and it opened before them. Behind the door was another hall, almost as big as the dining one. They saw some strange capsules in there.

"I've got an idea: let's get some breakfast first." proposed Harry.

Hermione nodded and turned away from the door. They ate quickly and then went through the door. As they saw earlier, there were nine strange capsules aligned in a grid 3x3. Seven of those were obviously unpowered though. On the opposite side of the room was a heavy gate.

"Well?" said Hermione and pointed towards the two powered capsules.

Harry groaned but Hermione ignored his displeasure and approached the nearest capsule. It opened when she touched it. There was a lot of strangely looking cybernetics inside. There was the headpiece they had encountered earlier, just larger. Then there were some kind of stirrups for legs and arms. There was also a padded pad which was probably supposed to support ones back, judging from its position between the stirrups.

Hermione wasted no time and got inside the capsule. The devices came to life as she put her legs in stirrups and started to position themselves. Belts sneaked from the support pad and fastened around her torso. Various cables connected with her suit which seemed to be designed to work with the systems of the capsule. Before it closed, she gave Harry a commanding look.

Harry hesitated for a while but them followed her example and stepped inside the second capsule. Once again, his anxiety level rose as the intestines of the capsule started to move around him. Before too long, the familiar sleepiness started to gnaw on Harry's consciousness. He tried to fight for a moment but then gave up and tried to relax instead.

Harry closed his eyes and darkness overtook him soon. A moment later, he felt wide awake again and opened his eyes. The darkness was still all around him but he could see his hands normally when he looked at them. The he heard Hermione's voice from behind.

"You kept me waiting long enough," she accused.

Harry turned around and asked, "Where are we? What is this place?"

"I don't know. I guess the system wants to see into our heads again. This is different though."

As soon as she finished speaking, a bright white dot appeared on the "horizon". The dot extended into a line until it reached from one side of their field of vision to the other one. Then the line started to widen and Harry and Hermione felt sucked into it. The light blinded them and they had to close their eyes.

When they opened them again, they were sitting in the Hogwarts Express. Twelve year old Ron Weasley was in the compartment with them, chattering some nonsense about the passed year. Harry and Hermione realized that they were in a memory of returning from the their first year at Hogwarts.

"What's this supposed to mean?" asked Harry as the same time as Hermione exclaimed, "I'm a child again!"

Ron looked at them in confusion. Harry shot Hermione a questioning look. Hermione draw her wand and cast a confusing charm on Ron.

"Your magic works as in the present day, it seems," remarked Harry.

"Yeah. We are in some kind of a simulation though."

Harry then tried to pinch himself. It felt real.

"Well I'm not going back to the Dursleys! I would kill them all!" promised Harry.

"I don't think that would leave a good impression on the AI of this place."

"You think this is some kind of a test?"

"Must be. First, it tested our intelligence and ability to think out of the box. However, passing those tests doesn't mean you don't have evil intentions."

"Well, then I should stay well away from my relatives," resolved Harry.

"That would be for the best. You can come with me and then we can discuss the situation."

They did they best to play their roles afterwards and made small-talk with Ron when he came out of the confusion. The red-haired boy mostly stuck to a script stored in their memories but there were slight differences caused by the change in Harry's and Hermione's attitude towards him.

At the platform, they evaded the Dursleys and went straight to Hermione's parents. The introductions were quick, as she wrote about Harry to her parents during the year. Then she told them that Harry needed to go with them. That gave the Grangers a pause and attempted to inquire.

"He is a victim of child abuse. I'll explain at home but now we need to get going," resolutely said Hermione.

Her parents knew her as a rational girl so they decided to play along for the time being. They all got in the car and drove to the Grangers' house. Hermione's mother was sending the kids on the back-seat curious glances from time to time.

"Hey, how long do you think we can stay here?" whispered Harry.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, that I'm not sure whether I saw any intravenous feeding tubes on that machine."

"I'm sure the system would interrupt the simulation and let us out if we were here too long."

Hermione seemed distracted to Harry. Then he realized that she was affected by seeing her parents again or more precisely, by the memory of them triggered by the simulation.

They arrived home and the kids unpacked and freshened up. When they were done, they quietly headed back to Hermione's parents. They found them talking in the kitchen in low voices. Harry wondered whether they began talking just then or whether the virtual world they were in simulated the entire conversation even if there was nobody there to listen.

The adults (the virtual ones) noticed the presence of the "children" and sat down with them, demanding an explanation. Hermione started to tell them about Harry's living situation. Harry wasn't quite comfortable with rehashing of the past but decided to play along and provided a detail here and there.

When they finished the story, the Grangers asked Harry what he wanted to do and whether he wanted to involve social services. He and Hermione tried to tell them that the situation was somewhat more complicated but their discussion was cut short by the sound of the doorbell. Mr. Granger went to open - it was Dumbledore.

_"How the hell does he know that I'm here?"_ asked Harry himself.

The headmaster entered the living room and turned his inquisitive eyes on the boy. "Harry, I thought that you agreed to go back to your relatives," he said.

Harry snorted and snapped, "Fat chance of that happening."

The old man sighed and pleaded, "The wards, Harry. As much as I understand..."

"The hell you do!" exclaimed Harry. He almost shouted.

"Enough of this!" commanded Hermione. Then she turned to Dumbledore and continued, "This is just a simulation and we need to know what does it mean."

"Excuse me, Miss Granger?" asked the old wizard. "I'm not quite sure I understand."

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." intoned Harry.

Dumbledore fell silent and waited.

Hermione carried on, "Six years from now on, we found your clues and followed them to Egypt. We went through the obstacles and reached a portal - now we are in some kind of an underground base and its systems are testing us."

As soon as she finished, the world around them collapsed. Only Dumbledore remained - or a shell of him at least. His eyes were missing and in his eye sockets were holes through which they could see void.

Hermione didn't let that discourage her and turned on the projection in earnest, "OK, what is this about! I guess we didn't jump through the loops you prepared for us but guess what - we can't see those loops anywhere! What do you want us to do? Is this a test? Is it a game? How do we open the way further? Are we supposed to go any further?"

The image of Dumbledore slowly nodded at the last question.

"Well, then maybe you should make it clearer what are we supposed to do!" asserted Harry.

"Or is this a character test and we should find out on our own?" asked Hermione finally.

Dumbledore kept peering at them for a moment and then everything disappeared. They woke up back in the capsules which were already opening. They got out and walked without another word back to the living area. The door closed shut behind them.

For the next two days, the door to the simulation room remained closed. Harry found out that the food assembler had its own ideas about what he should eat and when. Hermione, on the other hand, always received what she wished for. The machine probably deemed her requests to be healthy and balanced diet. In the end, Harry let Hermione order for both of them.

Finally, the door of the simulation room opened. When they arrived in the virtual land-scape, they were quite surprised though. The world around them was unrealistic and looked like a classic real-time rendition on a computer - an old computer. They were standing on a walkway suspended in a void. A few paces from them was a door with a familiar ring-rebus on it. Everything was translucent so they could see another door behind it. A large digital clock floated next to the walkway. As soon as they looked on it, the countdown started - they had five hours.

"You've got to be kidding me!" cried Harry in frustration.

Hermione sighed and commented, "I guess this is the system's idea of a joke. We wanted obvious loops to hop through, here they are. Let's get to work."

"Ha! The system probably thinks we are completely stupid." snorted Harry and walked towards the door. However, instead of solving the puzzle, he attempted to climb over the side of the door. Unfortunately, he realized that there was no friction between his hands and the virtual walls only when he was already partially suspended over the black emptinesses. He let out a strangled cry and fell into the void.

"That was truly genial," remarked Hermione when he reappeared next to her.

Harry just grumbled something and approached the door once more. He started to fiddle with the rings when Hermione stopped him.

"Wait. We need to make notes," she urged.

"How?" asked Harry.

As soon as he said that, a notebook and a pencil appeared on the floor. Hermione picked them up and instructed, "Well, go on."

He started turning the circles and Hermione documented everything. They continued in similar fashion for a few hours. The increasing complexity of the puzzles and their tiredness started to take its toll on them by that time and they had to take a break. Their pace kept dropping afterwards and when the time ran out, they were still several doors from the finish. They woke up and got out of the capsules.

"Well at least the system won't let us remain there for too long," remarked Hermione.

Harry made no response and headed towards a bathroom.

"You know, we need to prepare a system that would allow us to progress faster," stated Hermione when they ate later.

"Better notes?"

"Or something better then written notes."

When they appeared at the beginning of the puzzle-course the next day, Hermione was holding something that looked like a tablet made of glass. When harry looked closer, he realized that it was a virtual touch-display.

"A computer?" he asked.

"More like a calculator. I thought it up last night and wished for it when I entered my capsule."

The tablet proved to be a powerful tool, having a lot of functions for storing and browsing of records about the locks and even performing some basic operations over the data.

"Why we didn't receive something like this yesterday?" asked Harry.

"Probably because we wouldn't know how to use it. I had to design it myself to use it effectively," replied Hermione.

Their progress was much quicker this time and they still had time to spare when they unlocked the last door. Bright light washed over everything and they woke up.

"That's it?" asked Harry.

"Well, I guess that there will be some real tests from now on," mused Hermione.

She was quite right. When they entered the machine the next day, they appeared in the atrium of the ministry. There were the original statues of a wizard, witch, centaur and a house elf in the fountain. The younger versions of Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna were also a dead give-away.

Hermione stared at the setting for a while and then told Harry, "Well, let's come up with a sensible plan this time around."

First, they tried to guess what were their goals in the simulation. They agreed that they should somehow defeat the Death Eaters waiting in ambush and reveal Voldemort's return to the public. Then they discussed their options.

"Can we do this on our own? Just the two of us? Because I don't think we can rely on them." mused Hermione and nodded towards the four kids who stood still a few paces away from them.

Harry scratched himself behind his ear and then suggested, "Look, this is going to sound crazy but what about Luna? She might be a bit odd but she can think calmly at least, unlike the rest of them."

Hermione contemplated his proposal and agreed that Luna might be useful if her task was simple enough to be handled by a witch of her power and knowledge.

"That's right - no heroics, nothing complicated, just something simple and we can consider it done." added Harry.

Then they discussed who should get the cloak (which Harry found on his person). Harry couldn't take it, they needed the Death Eaters to focus on him. Hermione was the obvious choice but it would be suspicious if she was missing. In the end, they decided to give the cloak to Luna. They took her aside and in a whispered conversation explained what they wanted her to do. The others remained still, unaware of the world around them.

After Luna received sufficient explanation of her part in the plan, they turned to the three remaining figures. Harry and Hermione had serious concerns about their participation in the skirmish since all three of them were prone to doing something stupid, especially Ron. They approached them and the still forms came out of their dream state. It became obvious that the virtual Ron was created from their memories with great fidelity - as soon as he opened his mouth they wanted to bash him.

"So, here we are! What are we going to do now?" he prattled in such and similar ways.

"I don't think he said anything when we were here for real," whispered Harry to Hermione.

"Well, I guess that our perception of him was skewed during the last year," replied Hermione.

Harry and Hermione then addressed Ron, Ginny and Neville. Their instructions were simple enough - stay with them, watch themselves, don't do anything stupid.

"We aren't going to ask you to do anything special but should we give a direction like retreat you shall be expected to do it. If you panic or disobey, you shall be on your own," stressed Hermione.

The three children narrowed their eyes at hearing those words. Ron voiced his displeasure, "Oi! Where is this hogwash coming from? "

Ginny added, "Yes! Since when when you are an expert on magical battles?"

"Don't be ridiculous, this will be hardly a skirmish," snapped Harry.

Hermione than answered the question, "Do you know what's the difference between me, Harry and Luna and the rest of you? Harry's got a strong battle spirit and experience of facing death. Luna and I have intellect. I myself am a muggleborn to boot which is the reason why I am able to look at all of this from Harry's perspective - a perspective of a survivor who is willing to be ruthless enough to keep surviving."

Ron didn't look very pleased with the answer so Harry told him, "You know what? If you can do this spell, we are going to change our minds in this matter."

Harry whipped out his wand and shot a _Sectumsempra_ curse and the statue of a wizard. Instead of making several minor slashes, he concentrated the power of the spell into a single slash and severed the head of the statue.

"Or this." added Hermione and fired a _FlammaPurpura_ curse at the severed head.

"That's dark magic!" exclaimed Ginny.

"Like I said - Harry and I have little to loose at this point." retorted Hermione.

"Enough of this. Stay or come - it's your choice." resolved Harry and walked towards the elevators.

"Are you coming?" Hermione asked Luna, who had been silent for the whole time.

"Of course." replied Luna. Her voice betrayed no anticipation or excitement at all.

During the elevator ride, Hermione used _Protean_ charm on two coins and gave one of them to Luna. They arrived in the circular room and Harry opened the door to the Brain Room. Hermione walked with Luna to the tank. She grabbed a canister from a shelf on the way and expanded its inner space with a spell. Then they moved the water and the brains from the tank into the canister. Finally, they applied _Locomotor_ and concealing charms on it. Hermione then gave Luna the directions to the Hall of Prophecies and rejoined Harry and the rest of the group.

"What was that about?" asked Ron.

"You shall see, now hush." replied Harry and opened the door of the Time Room.

As they walked to the door on the opposite side, they noticed that the Time Turners were missing. They were not surprised - such a thing would make the entire simulation indeterministic. One might say that changing the past was impossible even in the real world but Harry and Hermione knew from experience that it wasn't true. However, while the real world had no problem with seamless incorporation of the effects of the actions of their future versions in the present, such a thing would be impossible for a computer. Then again, maybe the computer that ran the simulation was based on principles that were unknown to them.

They entered the hall and made way to the row ninety-seven. Hermione activated her coin and Luna entered the hall as well, unnoticed by the Death Eaters waiting in ambush. Harry entered the space between the shelves and looked back at the others. Ron wanted to follow him but Hermione grabbed his elbow. Then she retreated to the wall and gestured to the others to assume defensive positions in there.

"Hey!" started Ron who wanted to question what was happening but Hermione cast a silencing spell at him. Then she gestured again to the others to keep silent and to hold position.

Harry quickly walked to his orb, grabbed it and then hastily retreated again while conjuring a shield. The Death Eaters moved at once. It was different then Harry remembered though. There was no laxity in their approach this time - it was obvious to them that the children knew that it was a trap.

"Don't move or I'll smash it!" bellowed Harry.

"That would be your doom, Potter!" shouted on of the Death Eaters back.

"As would be surrendering the prophecy!" retorted Harry.

He kept retreating and was almost back with the others while the Death Eaters kept advancing with intention to surround them. He hoped that Luna was capable of improvisation.

His hope wasn't in vain. The Death Eaters stopped when they heard Luna's shout from somewhere behind them. They looked around and Harry decided to smash the orb in that moment. The Death Eaters looked back at him, frozen for a moment and completely silent and unmoving in a hope that they would be at least able to listen to the recording.

That was all the time that Luna needed. She showed the canister towards the dark figures and it kept sliding as if it was on ice. Then she hit it with a spell which Hermione showed her. The canister literally exploded as the expansion charm was cancelled and the water and brains showered on the Death Eaters. Hermione cast a non-verbal _Confundus_ charm on Lucius Malfoy while Harry and Luna started to topple the towering shelves.

"Follow me!" yelled Hermione at her group. Ron was angrily gesticulating at her but she ignored him.

Harry didn't go with Hermione, he run to where he thought Luna was. He circled around the Death Eaters, firing _Sectumsempra_ curses on anybody who wasn't wrestling a brain. Some curses flew in his direction as well but nothing life threatening.

"Luna!" he shouted, hoping that she would join him and reveal herself.

"Here," she said and revealed herself at the end of the allay he was running through.

He reached her and in that moment, a Death Eater fired a _Confringo_ on the ground behind Harry. Both he and Luna we knocked of their feet by the explosion. Harry recovered quickly and aimed his wand at the attacker.

In that moment, everything stopped like once before and the world started to fall apart. The floor remained and somewhere between Harry and Hermione, a frozen figure of Ron could be seen. His mouth was opened in a silent scream. His arms were raised in a futile attempt to shield himself. A green bolt of the killing curse was hovering in the air in front of him.

"It seems that we also have to keep our friends alive," mused Harry.

"What kind of nonsense is that? It's not our fault that they panicked." rambled Hermione.

Harry stroked his chin and then asked, "Wait a minute. Haven't you silenced him? You have remembered to cancel the spell, right?"

Hermione looked uneasy and replied, "Well, actually not."

"If I remember correctly, Ron had problems with non-verbal casting even in our time." stated Harry.

They tried to leave their friends behind the next day. Unfortunately, that seemed to be a breach of the constraints of the scenario and the simulation was terminated and started again as soon as they reached the bottom level. They were suspended in the void for a moment before the "mission" was restarted and they appeared next to the fountain again.

"OK. This is probably not going to work but I have to try it." stated Harry and went to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The simulation terminated again as soon as he stepped out of the elevator.

When they stood in the atrium again, Hermione stated, "Very well, we need a plan. Turn this off!"

The blackness enveloped them. Hermione closed her eyes and concentrated. A holographic touch-display appeared in front of them.

"What's that?" asked Harry.

"I just thought that maybe the system stored our things in digital form at least. I could ask the food assembler to give us our books back but this is more convenient." answered Hermione.

"So, are we looking for some advanced spells now?"

"No, for simple ones."

To Harry's credit, he wasn't confused by her answer at all and immediately knew what was she thinking about. Next day they started by teaching their friends some new spells. Ron and Neville were assigned a spell each while Ginny and Luna managed two. Ron asked whether they shouldn't hurry but Harry told him not to worry. After all, the Order was coming and the longer they delayed, the sooner a help would arrive. At least, that was Harry's theory - they didn't know for sure whether the scenario included them.

Surprisingly, the plan Harry and Hermione had concocted went smoothly enough. The Order arrived as expected and their victory was complete. Unfortunately, the mission still ended with a failure. Harry realized that they needed to lure Voldemort in somehow. They had to rework their plan and the next day, the simulation ended when the two of them found themselves in the atrium in the company of Dumbledore and Voldemort.

The atrium and Voldemort vanished and Dumbledore's eyes became empty again. Harry and Hermione approached the image and waited for it to say something. After a while, Hermione asked, "What was the lesson here? Use our heads, rely on our friends?"

The image merely shook its head in the slightest manner.

"You know, this feels like one of those riddles where you have to figure out not only the answer but the question as well." remarked Harry.

The image peered at him for a while and then they were released from the simulation. They were given the next day off. They talked about the world above them, wondering about what was happening there. There was one fact which was keeping them calm: they were progressing much faster at the moment than they had been before their visit to the graveyard.

Next day they appeared at the Grimmauld Place. From the newspaper on the table, they could tell that it was three day days before their infiltration of the Ministry of Magic. Next to the newspaper was the diary, a ring and Helga's cup - all destroyed.

"What does that mean?" pondered Harry.

"That getting the horcrux is a secondary goal in this scenario?" mused Hermione.

"Then what's the main one?"

"I... I think I might have an idea."

Harry patiently waited as Hermione paced back and forth until she turned back to him, raised her index finger and continued, "When we were at the Ministry the last time and I saw what kind of travesties were happening there, my biggest regret was not doing more to stop that and help my fellow muggleborns."

"Wait a minute. So this AI we are dealing with wants us to confront our greatest regrets? Because the Department of Mysteries was mine."

"I guess it's one of its way of testing our characters. It wants us to interact with the environment it conjures for us but we are able to do that only if it's presented as a test or a mission with more or less clear goals."

Harry walked around the table, sat down on a chair and propped his chin on his hands. He looked at Hermione and asked, "Very well, what do you want to do differently this time around? If a remember correctly, we did save those muggleborns."

"Only a handful of them. What I have in mind is to disrupt the whole anti-muggleborn operation that the Ministry is running, even if it is only for a while."

Harry snapped his fingers, pointed his index finger at Hermione and added, "Because the greatest danger of all that is the apathy of everybody involved. Mrs. Cattermole quietly came to the trial and all she could do was hope that they won't send her to Azkaban. Her husband was the same story. Neither of them truly realized the danger she was in. In fact, the same could be said about the whole magical community. I think this is the gravest aspect of the whole war."

"Ha, my words! And we shall shatter this stagnancy, at least in this virtual world." exclaimed Hermione.

Suddenly, a door opened and Ron entered. He asked curiously, "I think I've heard voices. What's the matter?"

"We are just brainstorming. Care to join us?" answered Hermione innocently.

"Brain - storming?" repeated Ron.

"Yeah. We feel that we need to expand our plan. Add contingencies," replied Harry.

They spent the next two hours forming a rough plan. Afterwards, they went to collect information, leaving Ron in the house. By the noon, they located an appropriate military base. They decided to make their next move at three o'clock in the morning of the next day. The system let them out when they decided that so they could stretch their legs and eat something.

They finalised their plans during the break and then returned in their capsules. They appeared at the Grimmauld Place again, it was two hours after midnight. All three of then apparated near the base and climbed on a small hill from which they could see the warehouses that were their target. Ron was somewhat confused about the whole thing but he withheld any commentaries.

Hermione pointed at one of the warehouses and said, "It should be in there."

Harry nodded and Hermione continued, "Remember, optical-based security, such as motion detectors, won't detect you but you need to make sure not to disrupt any electronic locks and such."

"Yeah, I know." acknowledged Harry, donned his cloak and trotted towards the gate. Getting through it and slipping among the guards and patrols was easy. The potion he had sprayed on himself earlier took care of the dogs in the area. The problem was with actually getting inside the warehouse. Harry didn't want to cast any spells or apparate unless it was completely necessary. Also, he couldn't nick a key-card from one of the soldiers (that would get the soldier in trouble and he had a feeling that it would gain him negative points in the character test). Luckily, he was prepared - he found a secluded spot where he poured a potion on the wall of the warehouse. The wall was eaten away and crumbled in complete silence.

A quarter of an hour later, Harry returned to his friends and victoriously raised Hermione's bag above his head. He told them that the alarm was going to be raised any minute. They ran a safe distance away from the base and apparated back to the Grimmauld Place just when the guards discovered evidence of the intrusion.

"OK, that's enough for today, we would like to return at ten o'clock in the morning tomorrow. I mean today." spoke Hermione to no one in particular once they stored their loot.

The simulation was stopped and Harry and Hermione left the capsule room to get some dinner and sleep. They were awoken several hours later by an alarm which stopped as soon as they ran out in the dining area. The lights above the door to the simulation room were flashing.

"What's happening?" exclaimed Hermione.

"I think I've got a pretty good idea. You've said that you want to resume the campaign and as the time of the final mission approaches, the system refuses to give us any more rest then we would get in the real world." answered Harry.

"That sounds reasonable. Can we have ten minutes to grab some breakfast?!" replied Hermione, shouting the last sentence. In response, the lights above the door were turned off, only one of them kept blinking slowly.

It didn't surprise them later when they appeared at the Grimmauld Place and it was exactly ten o'clock in the morning. They took their "catch" from the night-raid in the kitchen and began a tedious task of adding a magical element in every piece. The wand-work involved only one spell which was quite similar to the one that Hermione used for the DA coins. Apart from that, there was only a bit of manual work required. Hermione was somewhat grouchy that the system wouldn't let them skip such boring parts but she made no comments.

They finished their work several hours later and placed the products of their work in a newly created expanded bag for Harry. Hermione put a few pieces in her own bag as well. The system gave them a half an hour long lunch-break after which they returned for even a more tedious task - to prepare the virtual Ron for his part in their plan and to teach him any magic he would need for it. Ron was being difficult as usually but both Harry and Hermione appeared to know what they were doing so he agreed to do as they asked. They left the system soon enough so they would have at least ten hours out of the capsules. While they ate, Hermione wondered whether the system would have them repeat everything in the case of a failure or only the last day.

"You know, I've been thinking..." began Harry.

"Yes?" prodded him Hermione.

"I guess we shouldn't use any unforgivable curses in case we get in a tight spot."

"Do you think it would look bad? "

"Well, I can't imagine how it could look good."

Hermione leaned on the table and thought for a moment. Then she spoke, "You know, I watched this Star Trek episode once."

"Star Trek - you mean like Enterprise and all that?"

"Yes. In this episode, they found a planet on which some kind of an advanced intelligence resided. It transported Kirk and Spock on the surface where it conjured two good figures from the histories of their respective cultures and a few bad ones. It told Kirk and Spock that should they win the scenario, contact with the Federation shall be considered. After their conjured allies fell while attempting diplomacy, Kirk and Spock dealt with the bad guys in the only way they could - by utilisation of force. Guess what happened afterwards."

"They were told that they were no better than the bad guys."

"Precisely! I just hope that this AI understands the absurdity of this."

The next morning found Harry, Hermione and the virtual Ron in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic. There was one slight change though - Harry was Mr. Cattermole and Ron was Runcorn. Soon, they went their separate ways. Hermione left with Umbridge and Yaxley, just like the last time. Harry went after his duties of a technician - seemingly. However, if somebody paid closer attention, it would be noticed that he was making a trek through most of the floors of the structure, sticking his nose to any places he had access to. Fortunately, nobody pays attention to technicians in navy blue clothes.

Ron's role was a little different - he set out to find his father. He wasn't really sure why Hermione wanted him to do what he was about to do but he had agreed to do it after an hour long explanation of the meaning of the word "contingency". On the way, he ordered a member of the internal security of the ministry to follow him. This and the following events obviously weren't visualised since there was nobody around to witness them but the system had to simulate them in order to determine their outcome.

"Arthur Weasley! You are required in my office, now!" boomed Ron on his father, trying to sound as intimidating as possible.

"Excuse me?" asked Mr. Weasley, eyeing the guard next to Ron.

"A strange artefact was found on a detained ministry employee. I was told you are an expert on this."

"I'm not sure I understand - there must have been some kind of a mistake."

"It's a muggle artefact and we need you to tell us what it is! Now stop wasting my time and come!"

The system correctly determined that Ron would be uncomfortable in this situation and his act suffered as a result. Both Mr. Weasley and the guard were also aware of the stupidity of the request - if it was anything damaging, Arthur wouldn't tell them the truth anyway. Both of them chalked it to Runcorn's low intelligence.

"After you," said Ron and gestured - he had no idea where Runcorn's office was. His dad had some idea but he grew suspicious after Ron's continuous insistence for him to lead the way. Once they were in the privacy of "his" office, Ron stunned the guard.

"What are you doing?!" exclaimed Arthur.

"Give me a moment," replied Ron and then started to obliviate the guard. It took him several attempts and it was sloppy job but he was sure that the guard would have no memory of the last hour. The whole morning would be also jumbled and the guard would be painfully aware that somebody messed with his memories.

"Are you trying to get me in trouble, Runcorn?" said Arthur threateningly and when Ron looked up, he saw that his father was pointing a wand on him.

"I'm not Runcorn."

"What?"

"I'm under Polyjuice Potion. Don't you recognize my voice?"

It took a while before Ron proved his identity to his father.

"What are you doing here? You have to get out!" urged Arthur.

"I can't. Not until Harry and Hermione get what we came for. Also, they need us to do something for them. Hermione said it was a contingency."

"But Ginny is at Hogwarts right now. If I'm compromised..."

"Don't worry, just tell anybody loyal to us to get out of here. Tell them that You-know-who is going to attack. They should be inconspicuous though - only half of them should leave, the other half should be prepared in the atrium."

Arthur wanted some further explanation but Ron had none himself.

"I can't leave you here!" insisted Arthur in the end.

"Hermione expected that," said Ron and plucked a hair from the guard's head. He tossed it in a potion which he gave to his father.

"If you want to see to it that everything goes smoothly, take this after you are done," he explained.

"Very well. I hope those two know what are they doing."

In the meantime, Hermione dutifully played her role by Umbridge's side. She was waiting for the signals from Harry and Ron. She watched as they were taking a protesting wizard away.

"This is your final warning," said Umbridge's soft voice, magically magnified so that it sounded clearly over the man's desperate screams. "If you struggle, you will be subjected to the Dementor's Kiss."

One of the coins Hermione had warmed up at that moment. She had seen more than enough and wasn't about to wait for the second coin.

_Sectumsempra. Sectumsempra. Reducto. Sectumsempra._ The incantations rang in Hermione's mind as she cast one silent curse after another. The ministry employees in the room were all dead before they realized they were under attack. Then she loudly conjured a patronus to keep the dementors at bay.

"Is your wand nearby?" she asked the alleged half-blood.

The wizard was somewhat perturbed by what happened and even more so by "Mafalda's" calm tone. Finally, he managed to stutter, "No, they took it at the entrance."

"No matter, take these scum-bags' wands - the poor guys outside will need them as well."

"What's happening? I mean, thank you for saving me but why are helping us?"

"Let's just say that I can't have this on my conscience."

She knew that her actions would get the real Mafalda in trouble in the real world but she was convinced that she deserved it. As she talked, she grabbed the horcrux and tossed it towards the dementors. Then she pointed her wand at the locket and conjured Fiendfyre. As the locket and the dementors were being consumed, Hermione opened the door and quickly slew the guards outside. In the real world, she might have been disturbed by so much killing in such a short time but she didn't consider her environment to be anything more than an elaborate computer game.

While the half-blood distributed the wands, Hermione run to the lifts and summoned them. It was only a matter of time before the uncontrolled Fiendfyre would be detected. The others caught up with her soon. She still waited for the second signal but it was time to move.

"Get inside the lifts!" she ordered.

The whole company started to rise towards the atrium. The Fiendfyre swelled in the courtroom in the meantime. Neither Hermione nor Harry possessed any detailed information on this aspect of the security of the headquarters of MoM but logic told them that sooner or later something would start to beep somewhere. They were quite right - the guards knew about the spreading fire before it got out of the courtroom. Fortunately, Hermione was almost at the atrium by that time and the second coin warmed up.

Ron and Arthur (both disguised) were prepared at the atrium already. The people that were warned by Arthur started to make their way towards the fireplaces. Harry joined them and lightly tapped Arthur on his shoulder. Ron took a deep breath and marched towards the lifts. Harry told Mr. Weasley to assume a position nearby the outgoing fireplaces. At that moment, Aurors were only aware that an uncontrolled Fiendfyre was spreading through the level ten.

Hermione and her flock emerged from the lifts and were immediately joined by Ron. Hermione warned the others that somebody looking like Runcorn was going to escort them but some of the muggleborns still looked at him apprehensively. Some pure-blood bureaucrat noticed the group and asked what was going on. Ron tried to intimidate him but he was nowhere near as sure of himself as Harry was, not to mention that the alarm was already on. As a result, Ron got caught in a conversation with the wizard while Hermione continued. Harry nodded to Arthur and he inconspicuously started to cast silent confusing charms at the guards.

Hermione's group were nearing the disgusting statue and she took something from her bag. Suddenly, an Auror (freshly accepted and completely loyal to the regime) noticed the group and ordered them to stop. Hermione tossed the package she was holding back towards the lifts and then fired a Confringo curse under the Auror's feet, not caring about the fact that there were quite a few "innocent" wizards and witches standing in his vicinity. The floor exploded, killing the corrupted Auror and injuring the others or at least knocking them of their feet. Ron decked the wizard he was talking with his big fist and then turned in Hermione's direction. The carnage he saw left him momentarily flabbergasted.

"Run!" shouted Hermione, then grabbed Mrs. Cattermole by her elbow and dragged her towards the fireplaces where Harry and Arthur were waiting. As she ran, she fired silent banishing charms in a direction of anybody who would try to hinder them. By the lifts, a witch picked up the package that Hermione had thrown there. Harry watched as Ron ran after Hermione. Then Harry could not wait any further and tapped the other coin he had with his wand.

All the packages of C4 they had placed earlier went off. From the perspective of the people in the atrium, there was an explosion that sent pieces of human flesh in the air. Only a split of second later, there was a loud rumbling coming from above followed by a tremor of the ceiling and the walls. Hermione was pushing her people in the fireplaces, urging them not to stop. Harry rained a curse after curse in the crowd around.

"What a hell have you done?!" cried Arthur and grabbed the front of Harry's clothes.

"You've got one second to let go of me!" snapped Harry icily and aligned his wand so it pointed on Arthur's belly.

"What?"

Harry hated to do it but he couldn't waste any time. He cast a banishing charm at Mr. Weasley who flew several meters away where he fell on some panicked people. Then the shaking started again and it grew stronger every second. Mr. Weasley lifted himself from the floor and saw his son who was struggling to get through the panicked crowd. It was obvious that he was shocked just as much as his father was. The Weasley patriarch wasted no time and went to help him.

By that time, Hermione shouted at the rest of her group to follow her and dived in a fireplace. The situation back in the public toilets was confused just as much as in the atrium. The guards present there were attempting to establish some order. Hermione pointed her wand on the nearest one and cast a silent Confudus charm on him. Then she changed her position and equally silently cut a throat of another one. This was noticed unfortunately and the remaining guards started to search for the attacker among the escaping people.

Harry emerged from a toilet by that time as well. He ran to Hermione and grabbed her, pulling her out on the street. The building behind them started to collapse and cracks appeared on the street. Harry and Hermione conjured shields to protect themselves from the falling debris and ran away.

"The others..." croaked Hermione and grabbed Harry's arm.

"The atrium still holds. They might be able to apparate away... if the wards fail before the ceiling does."

Hermione was about to respond when a shout from a guard interrupted her. They were changing back to their original forms. Harry wasted no time and blasted the wizard in pieces. There were a few more but they posed no threat to Harry and Hermione. In the meantime, the structure of the Ministry of Magic continued to collapse. It was obvious to both of them that they underestimated the power of the explosives.

Wizards and muggles alike ran away from the site and Harry and Hermione joined them. The managed to put about fifty meters between them and the gradually expanding crater. The buildings in the vicinity, thankfully mostly evacuated by that time, started to collapse as well. They started to talk about what should be done next. Should they leave Ron just like he left them? Was he and his father even alive at that point? Suddenly, everything paused just like many times before and the people disappeared. There was only only person left - Dumbledore, who was walking towards them.

"OK, I guess we are going to have to repeat this. Am I right?" asked Hermione indignantly when Dumbledore came to a stop before them. The virtual form of the dead professor merely shook its head.

"No? You mean to say that we have succeeded?"

Dumbledore shook his head again and Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"You are not making any sense! Have we met the goals of this mission or not?"

Dumbledore made no response to that.

"Can't you answer me? What were the goals anyway?"

Dumbledore shook his head.

"And what was that supposed to mean? That wasn't even a yes or no question!"

Harry put his hand on Hermione's shoulder and said, "Maybe it means that there were no goals?"

Dumbledore nodded. Hermione's yaw dropped.

"You merely wanted to observe our behaviour!" she exclaimed.

What happened next was rather creepy - the virtual Dumbledore smiled. To be more precise, he attempted to smile. However, he did it in a completely alien and artificial way that went far beyond the fact that he wasn't real. It was sort of ridiculous, considering that the system could simulate people in a high degree of faithfulness. Everything disappeared afterwards.

"OK, it's official - this computer is screwing with us!" exclaimed Hermione on their way out of the room.

Harry made no response and just pointed at the food replicator.

"Well, what a surprise." uttered Hermione and inspected the two glasses of beer and two plates of steak with baked potatoes.

"Do you think it means we are done?" asked Harry.

"No, probably not. If that was the case than we would get something more formal - like wine or champagne."

They agreed that the beer and steaks meant "Good job!" and dug in (after they visited the bathrooms). During the meal, they talked about the scenario they had just finished and discussed what the system could possibly want from them. Harry once again reiterated his theory about aliens and Hermione for once wasn't as opposed to it as earlier.

Hermione slept like a log that night due to the ingested beer. Harry, on the other hand, had a nightmare. It was something he had not experienced for a long time - a scar vision. He saw Voldemort giving orders to discreetly crack on the known and suspected members of the OotF and track down the core of the resistance. The reason for this move was his belief that Harry and Hermione left the country.

Harry woke up from his dream. Hermione was still in bed but she was no longer sleeping - he had probably awoken her. They talked about it over the breakfast that morning.

"Did your scar hurt since we entered that tower?" asked Hermione.

"That's the thing - it didn't."

"And you didn't have any dreams either, right?"

Harry nodded.

"I believe that you were somehow shielded here."

"But not any longer?"

"Well, I guess the system follows some kind of agenda here."

They finished their breakfast and then waited for something to happen. The door to the simulation room remained closed so they started with with some physical exercises. It was almost time for lunch when the door started flashing.

"What a hell?" exclaimed Harry, confused by the timing.

They quickly grabbed something small to eat and went to the capsules. By that time, an annoying alarm joined the flashing lights. They got in their capsules quickly and went through the usual procedure. However, they were rather surprised once their consciousness was transported in the virtual word. Why? Because they were still in the same place when they opened their eyes.

To be correct, it wasn't entirely the same place. All the capsules disappeared and the two of them were encased in some transparent bubbles. The two bubbles drifted towards each other and merged.

"What's happening?" asked Hermione.

Before Harry could reply, the bubble shot upwards. There was a darkness for a moment but then it got lighter and they emerged from water shortly afterwards. They saw that they were above the Atlantic ocean and were headed towards Britain. They noticed the lack of details as they slowed down and when the London appeared, it was blurry. Still, they could notice that their destination was number 10.

Once they stopped inside the PM's office and the bubble dissolved, everything became sharp and detailed again. It seemed that it was no simulation, but rather a projection from a real world. It was also obvious how it was possible - Voldemort was in the room with them.

"I guess now we know why the system let your scar to hurt again." whispered Hermione.

There was some meeting going on and apparently had been for a little while - probably since the lights had started flashing. The prime minister and other high officials of the government showed no reaction to the lich-like creature that walked among them as it addressed them - probably because they were spellbound.

"...and that is why we can't possibly tolerate the status quo any longer." Voldemort was saying at the moment. He came to a stop behind the PM and continued, "Not that it would be a threat, no. A nuisance at most but a nuisance we don't wish to deal with. Hence, I decided to personally oversee this matter. And you shall assist me, my dear minister."

As the "meeting" progressed, Harry and Hermione deduced that after the trio infiltrated the Ministry and helped several muggleborns run away, there were concerns that these people might seek refuge in the non-magical world, maybe even cooperate with muggless. There had been some measures put in place months ago to keep the non-magical world under control. That obviously wasn't enough for Voldemort and so he decided to tighten the screws. Getting the entire leadership of non-magical armies under his control seemed to be an important part of his plan.

Thanks to Harry's scar, the system allowed them to follow Voldemort anywhere he went and spy on everything he did. Harry was troubled as they watched as Death Eaters gained even more of a hold over the Britain but Hermione was downright distraught. Her feelings turned to anger with every general or admiral brought under Voldemort's control though. For obvious reasons, her reaction was fundamentally different from Harry's.

They left the simulation room once the show was over and went to the dining area, neither of them saying a word. They sat at the table and pondered what they had witnessed. The thoughts of each of them were headed in different directions though. Finally, Hermione broke the silence and made a comment about how bad the situation was turning.

"Yes. Now we shall have even more people against us." agreed Harry bitterly (or at least he thought he was agreeing).

"What?" asked Hermione in confusion.

"Well, it was just the general wizarding population before. Now it's the muggle military as well."

Hermione stared at him in disbelief. Harry sensed her mood and tensed. She exclaimed, "How can you say it like that?!"

"I'm just stating the facts and being pragmatic. Don't you remember our second mission at the ministry?"

"That's different! Those wizards and witches had the knowledge and power to defend themselves while the normal people don't even know that there is a danger to defend against. Not until some creep points a wand between their eyes a takes control of them!"

"Normal? Have you said normal people? What are we then? Freaks?"

Hermione paused and finally took in Harry's mood. She folded her arms and stared at him pointedly.

"What?" asked Harry.

"What. The. Hell!" growled Hermione.

"What?!" repeated Harry.

"I thought we were on the same side," stated Hermione tonelessly.

"Well, I have thought the same. Where is this coming from?"

Hermione rubbed her forehead and turned to the side. Then she said, "Harry, when we committed to this after Ron left us, I thought that certain things were clear to us."

"Like what?"

Hermione turned back to him and asked in a firm voice, "What is it, that gives one an edge over one's enemies?"

"Is this from some kind of a war philosophy?"

"No, that was a rhetorical question. I'll tell you what gives one an edge. Generally, it's a capability and willingness to do things that others can't or won't do. The Death Eaters do have such an edge. Now, have you ever thought about how the two of us could succeed where the entire magical population of Britain hilariously failed?"

Harry thought about it for a moment and the answered, "Taking the context into consideration, I think I believe where is this headed. I'm not sure I like it though."

"That much I have gathered already. It's clear to me that you don't care much about what happens to my people." snapped Hermione.

"Your people? I don't think they would agree with you if they knew the truth. Trust me, I've got first-hand experience with that."

Hermione huffed and sat down. "This is not about the Dursleys, this is about what are you willing to throw at your enemies!" she explained.

"Well, I believe that ship has sailed. Voldemort himself saw to that."

"Well, let me correct myself - it's no longer about throwing things at your enemies either. Now we've got something even better. The only thing left is to open that gate in the other room."

Hermione stood up, stepped close to Harry and continued, "I think I finally understand why the system refuses to let us through."

"Because of me, I presume?"

"Indeed."

Harry made no response after that.

Hermione continued, "I believe there is something behind that gate, something great. The AI of this place just wants to make sure that we won't do something stupid in there."

"If there is something in there that can save the world, why haven't the AI already activated it."

"Maybe it can't. Maybe that thing has no ethernet interface?"

"I don't think this place has one either."

Harry needed some time to think about their discussion afterwards. Hermione went in her capsule in the meantime to browse the virtual library. When she returned, she found Harry lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Well, have you decided that you are willing to stop Voldemort, whatever it takes?" she asked.

Harry was taking time to respond so Hermione continued, "Remember, it was the magical world that dumped you at the Dursleys. It's the laws of the magical world that makes a life difficult for any magical child living among muggles."

Harry finally spoke, "Still, I owe nothing to muggles. Why should I serve them?"

"Serve? No Harry, throwing them at your enemies is truly more then they have any right to expect from you. There would be great losses, true, but protection of their world is their responsibility, not ours. However, such questions are purely academical now - that opportunity is gone, just like you said."

"Not to mention that we can't leave this place even if we wanted."

"True. Still, we need to make the motion in the virtual world at least. If my theory is right, the system should let us through afterwards."

"How?"

Hermione sat on his bed and said, "Do you know how I would proceed if I was in Dursleys' shoes?"

Harry raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"I would make my revenge on Dumbledore, not you. I would encourage your accidental magic, until you would be completely comfortable using it. Then I would lead you to somebody from the military and asked you to show some tricks to the kind uncle in a uniform."

"Well, that's nice. Why are you telling me this?"

"The first simulation. I think the starting point was too late. Come, we shall do this right this time."

They entered the simulation. It was the end of the first year, right after Harry was released from the hospital wing. Hermione snatched him and they went to the Room of Requirement. There she started to undo any charms on them. She started with their Traces and continued with any additional tracking charms on Harry. The room prevented any signals from escaping outside.

"You know, we didn't know about this room back then and you certainly wouldn't be able to perform such a complex magic." observed Harry.

"It's the thought that counts."

Once she was done, they went about the castle and collected some things (such as potion ingredients). Then the scene changed and they were at the King's Cross again. Harry went with the Grangers once again. As they drove, Hermione silently cast a mild charm on her parents to make them more susceptible to their suggestions. They told them about Harry's situation and described what a lawless jungle was the magical world. They were appalled, of course, and wanted Hermione to stop attending Hogwarts at once. She just shrugged and said that it was one of the options. Then she told them that the first thing they should do was to report the situation to proper authorities.

Mrs. and Mr. Granger were at a loss of words. The system quite faithfully simulated (and reflected on their faces) that they would desire to take their daughter and take her as far as possible from all the danger. On the other hand, they were completely stumped by the decisiveness of her behaviour. True, Hermione wasn't adhering to her role of a twelve-year old girl but that didn't matter.

"Please pack your things and make arrangements for temporal absence from your practice. We've got some time but all four of us need to leave right after we choose our destination." she said in the end.

Harry and Hermione went to her room afterwards. Hermione's mood appeared to be somewhere between boredom and irritation. She exclaimed, "OK, this is getting tedious. Can't we stop this charade?"

Nothing happened.

She looked at Harry, frowned and then picked a T-shirt from her dresser.

"OK, turn this T-shirt blue if Harry is the problem." she ordered the system. The T-shirt turned blue. She sighed and looked at Harry again.

He shook his head and said, "You could just go on without me."

"No way. This trip was meant for a larger group than us. Continuing alone would be a folly."

Harry sat down on the bed explained, "I'm sorry. I've lived with the Dursleys for as long as I can remember. Even after I've started to attend Hogwarts, they remained a large factor in my life. Just look at the numbers: sixteen years with them against half a year without them. I don't remember the year before my parents died so that doesn't count. So you could say that the Dursleys represent ninety-five percent of my life. You can't erase that in a week or two."

Hermione closed her eyes and contemplated his words for a moment. Then she made her wish. The scene changed again around them. The two of them and their parents appeared in some kind of an office. There was a man in a white cloak with them.

"Kids, this is Dr. Clement, my friend from the high school. He teaches physics here." introduced him Mr. Granger.

"Where are we?" whispered Harry.

"A military academy. Doesn't matter." replied Hermione.

Mr. Granger introduced the children to his friend and then briefly went over Hermione's acceptance to Hogwarts. Dr. Clement was rather unwilling to believe until Hermione provided him with evidence. He panicked a little afterwards and she had to petrify his legs to keep him on his chair.

Then it was time for Harry's story. Hermione insisted that it was he who should do the talking. Harry tried to give Dr. Clement a half-hearted account of what he was in the magical magical world.

He stopped in the middle, turned to Hermione and asked, "Excuse me, why are we even telling him this? I mean, why him?"

"Objectively, it's as good place to start as any. Personally, I think the first people to learn about the magical underworld should be scientists. Not soldiers, not politicians. But that doesn't matter. What matters is your performance."

He stared at hear incredulously and then shouted, "Stop the simulation!"

He climbed out of his capsule angrily and stormed away to the living area. Hermione followed shortly after him.

"What a hell?" she asked indignantly.

Harry snapped back, "Do you think this is going to help me? Playing stupid video-games? I admit, it was fun at first but now it's starting to get boring."

"This isn't about enjoying yourself! This is about..."

Harry interrupted her, "I know, the system is trying to steer us a certain way. But the system fails to understand that a few images projected in our heads won't do the job. As far as I'm concerned, the only useful thing we used this system for was to spy on Voldemort!"

They discussed the matter for a while longer and then retired for the night. As they were lying on their beds and stared in the darkness, Hermione mused about the recent events.

"I don't understand it. You are willing to destroy the Death Eaters just as much as I do. You are even willing to destroy a half of the magical world to achieve that, just as much as I do. So what is behind those doors that you aren't allowed to get to it? If it was still possible, would you be willing to betray the magical world to muggles?"

Harry turned on his side and answered, "Well, I guess so - I wouldn't abandon you. However, I wouldn't want the muggles to persecute people just for being magical. I believe that with sufficient power, the muggles would be just as bad as Death Eaters."

Hermione shook her head and countered, "Well, if that is the case, why is it only you who is the obstacle here? I might not have your experiences but I too know what is it like to be a witch among muggles. I don't feel as strongly about it as you do but I agree with you in the principle. And anyway, we already agreed that we can no longer use the muggles since the military is under Voldemort's control now."

"Then it would be logical to assume that there is something beyond that door that we haven't thought about. Good night."

Hermione didn't pressed the matter afterwards. She whispered to herself as she was falling asleep, "What is it that I'm willing to do that he isn't?"


	3. The Core

The Core

The next morning welcomed them with flashing lights. Lights on the closet they had found their suits in, to be more precise. The closet was no longer empty. There were some kind of spacesuits. They were thin and flexible, with removable helmets and gloves. Further inspection revealed a few miniature lights mounted on the suits.

The next thing that started blinking was the food assembler. It started spewing packages of food - as soon as they removed one, another started to appear. There was even more of bottled water and some other items, like refreshing wipes.

"What are we supposed to do with so much food and drink?" asked Hermione.

"I guess we are going somewhere. But how are we going to haul it?" replied Harry.

As if to answer his question, the door to the simulation room opened. Harry peered in and saw that the door on the other side was opened as well.

"Well I'll be dammed," uttered Harry.

"How is this possible? Why is it letting us go?" pondered Hermione.

Harry looked beyond the door and returned with some kind of a cart. It had no wheels though. Instead, the underside of it was made of some kind of a material that hovered less than a millimetre above the floor. They filled the cart with the food, visited the bathrooms and then donned the spacesuits. As they walked past the capsules, Hermione looked over her shoulder one last time.

"Strange." she said. "I'm going to miss this place. It almost felt like home."

Harry disagreed, "Don't be ridiculous, we would go insane here. It's just an interchange station. Maybe the system is letting us go because we stayed longer than is healthy."

Behind the door on the other side of the simulation room was a corridor. There was an alcove on the left side where the cart had been parked. There were a few more carts but those were inactive.

There was another door at the end of the corridor. Harry and Hermione stood in front of it for a while before they noticed a button. The door parted in the middle and the halves slid sideways. They entered what looked like an elevator cabin.

"Are we going to go up or down?" pondered Harry, already suspecting what the answer was.

"I don't think we made our way this deep just to go up again," answered Hermione.

The lift started its descent, gradually accelerating. The two travellers could only guess at their speed from the amount of time for which they felt the gravity lessened. Harry groaned after five minutes in which they felt no de-acceleration.

Finally, they felt the floor pressing against their feet and the lift started to slow down. Then it came to a stop and the door opened. In front of them was yet another corridor ended by a door. Behind it was a small chamber with second door on the opposite side. The first door remained opened while the second one wouldn't budge. Harry looked around and saw a button on a wall.

"Helmets on?" he asked and nodded towards the button.

"I guess. To be sure." agreed Hermione.

"What about our supplies?"

"They are sealed well enough. Personally, I don't think the atmosphere there will be unbreathable."

"You are right. This doesn't look like a heavy duty airlock and there would be some kind of a warning."

Once their suits were sealed, Harry pressed the button. The door behind them closed and the one in front of them opened. They found out that they could talk to each other through the communication systems in their suits.

On their way, they encountered two panels which looked as if they could be opened to reveal a passage behind them. However, there were no visible means to open them. They agreed that they probably led to maintenance areas and that only the builders had been able to open it.

They reached another airlock soon enough - a heavier one this time. There was a metallic decoration next to the switch which formed a pictogram advising them to seal their suits. A minute later, they arrived at what looked like a final door. There was some kind of a sign written on it in a language and alphabet they didn't recognize. Under it was once again a pictogram urging them to seal their suits. They pressed the button on the door and entered.

There was a large hall. The ceiling was about five meters high. The most distinctive feature was the opposite wall. It was made of some metal resembling bronze. It didn't feel very metallic to touch though - just like with the black material before, some kind of mineral was part of its composition.

There was a huge gate in the wall. Once they got closer, a familiar picture started to glow on the gate - the riddle of circles. It was much bigger though and about three meters high. The markings in the circles were a subset of the final picture they saw in the room they were teleported in. These culled markings formed circular patterns and none of them overlapped between the circles. As a result, it wasn't possible to deduce the correct configuration from them.

Another problem was the lack of means to operate the riddle. However, Harry and Hermione gave no thought to that because there was some kind of device attached to the gate. It was made of some kind of bronzish metal (without any mineral additions). Its design told them that it was placed there by the builders of the station they just came from. There was a mechanical version of the riddle set in exactly the same setting as the glowing lines above. Hermione turned a few of the circles and the glowing image responded but nothing happened apart from that.

"I think you are just supposed to set the correct combination," suggested Harry. "No puzzle here."

Hermione nodded and turned the remaining circles. The image above them flashed briefly and then the wings of the gate parted and started to open inwards. There was a hallway. It was just as high as the antechamber they were in and just as wide. It was dark there, the only source of light came from the light in the antechamber.

"Shall we?" asked Harry.

"What choice do we have?"

"Well, what if there is something ancient behind this gate. Something... hungry!"

Hermione walked forward and Harry followed, pushing their supplies. A few meters into the corridor, they were suddenly startled as reflectors started to light up. They were positioned by the walls and illuminated the walls and the ceiling. Upon closer inspection, it was obvious that the builders of the simulation room left them there. There were no cables and no obvious source of power. It crossed Harry's mind that they were powered by magic.

"You know what this looks like, right?" asked Harry as they slowly continued forward.

Hermione was about to answer when the massive gate started to close again.

"Dammit!" cursed Harry and made for the tightening opening.

"No! Let it be!" shouted Hermione.

Harry hesitated and stood still before the closing gate for a moment. Then it was too late and the gate slammed shut.

"Great. There's a chance we won't be able to open it if we need to go back," he complained.

"Well, first we need to reach our goal. Then we can start considering our way back to the surface," claimed Hermione.

Harry sighed and returned back to her.

"What were you saying before?" she asked.

Harry briefly recollected a comic he had found in a park once a told her, "Well, you know how it usually is in the films. Some ancient ruins on an alien planet. Some stupid corporation comes there and starts digging and placing reflectors and other equipment there. Then they disappear. Then marines come and start investigating. Then they start disappearing too..."

Hermione rolled her eyes and made no answer. Instead, she went to inspect the walls. They were covered by decorative relief patterns.

She turned back to Harry and spoke, "Well, as I see it, there wasn't just a single culture of builders but at least two or three."

"Go on," prodded her Harry when she paused.

"The oldest (so far) builders have built this place for reasons that are unknown to us. Then they disappeared. The second builders either found this place or knew the first builders personally. They have built the auxiliary station to enable them to travel here more conveniently and to serve as a base for exploration of this place. The base has been warded from apparating or portkeying in - anybody who would try would end up in that second room. Only the authorized people knew how to reach the station. Perhaps they had to use special portals from the very beginning."

"And the ruins in Egypt?" asked Harry.

"Well, I guess the culture of the second builders started to crumble as well. So they have turned the station into some kind of a test and a guide for those who would follow in their footsteps. And finally, the third builders came. They were descendants of the remnants of the second builders or of their followers. They have built the ruins in Egypt and possibly other places around Earth. The sole purpose of those ruins was to test anybody who would want to come through."

Harry scratched his scalp and summarized it, "So, right now, we are in the ruins built by builders who came before builders who came before builders. Nice."

"I wouldn't call this place ruins. Just look at those reliefs - the edges are still sharp. While this place is obviously very old, the passage of time left no mark on it. Then again, the fact that the AI at the station still works is equally impressive."

Harry nodded and then grimly said, "Let's go."

They followed the big corridor until they reached a circular room. There were signs of the presence of the second builders but there was only one other exit. They assumed that some of the panels on the walls could open, just like at the station.

The other corridor sloped down steeply. The second builders actually installed narrow steps on a side. Harry and Hermione used it to descend while they held onto the cart next to them so it wouldn't run away from them.

After getting almost a hundred meters lower, the corridor levelled up and was ended by another gate. There was a hydraulic machine left by the second builders. They activated the machine and it applied some pressure against the gate. That seemed to activate the gate in turn and it opened.

"I guess the first builders weren't human, don't you think?" asked Harry.

"I'll have to think about this," replied Hermione. Not that she saw any other explanation (given the age of humankind).

They entered a cavernous hangar-like space. There was some kind of a cabin placed by the second builders next to a wall on their left. There was something far more interesting in the back though. They didn't see it right away. To be more precise, they did see it, since it was impossible to miss, but they thought it was a part of the hangar.

The object was huge and cylindrical in shape. It had four meters in diameter and was at least ten meters long. They couldn't see its entire length though since one end of the object was disappearing into a wall - or into a circular opening in the wall to be more precise. The lower part of the object was also hidden to them, it was sank into a ditch in the floor.

There was some kind of a contraption next to the cylinder. It was a rod, about two meters high. On top of it was attached a massive sphere.

"What is it?" mused Hermione.

Harry made no answer and strode towards the object, leaving the cart by the cabin. He inspected the big object with his eyes first and then with his hands. He couldn't find any clues about its purpose nor any means to interact with it. Finally, he approached the ball on the rod and reached up to it.

"Be careful," warned him Hermione.

"Always am," replied Harry and touched the sphere.

The strength of the mental probe that hit every piece of his memory at once was almost too much for him. It was like those chambers at the station of the second builders but much more powerful. While the chambers had to load their memories sequentially, the sphere touched everything at the same time. He had a feeling that the sphere wasn't built by humans.

When Harry opened his eyes again, he saw Hermione's face looming over him. She helped him to sit up.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well, you collapsed and there was that strange sound," she answered.

"What sound?"

"Like an acoustic pulse under water. Though I'm not sure if it was a real sound."

"How do you mean that?"

"Well, it sounded as if I wasn't wearing the suit. Maybe it wasn't carried by air but by a mental wave."

Hermione paused and then added, "Also, the sound sounded like a... refusal."

"Refusal?"

"Yes. A firm, short pulse. The tone started higher and ended deep. You know what I mean."

Harry was silent for a moment. "I see. I think you are going to need to touch it as well," he said finally.

Hermione wasn't keen at the idea and replied, "Maybe later, after we talk. Let's look at the cabin first."

The cabin had an airlock so they were able to remove their helmets once inside. The interior offered two retractable bunks (positioned above each other), a small table and three chairs. There was also some kind of a toilet in the back of the cabin. Further inspection revealed that the waste went into a container which could be detached from the outside. There were two spare containers next to the cabin.

"OK, what are we going to do?" asked Harry after he described what he felt when he touched the ball.

"Well, I believe that it's that big cylindrical object that should interest us," theorised Hermione.

"Do you think we need to get inside?"

"I saw no entry on that thing. Or anything else of interest for that matter."

"I guess that's where the sphere on the rod comes into play."

Hermione decided to try it as well. They donned their helmets and returned to the cylinder. She touched the sphere and experienced the same mental probing as Harry.

"Well?" she asked when she came to herself.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened," he informed her.

"No sound?"

"None. It seems it does not reject you."

"Or it ignores me."

They returned to the cabin and rested for some time afterwards. They grew restless soon enough though and decided to try their luck once again. They touched the sphere both at the same time. The mental probe was much more milder this time around. Probably not because their brains grew more accustomed to it but because the system remembered them and didn't need to perform such a deep scan again. The sound of rejection was once again the only response they received.

Hours later, Harry and Hermione were still stuck in place. For whatever reason, they didn't pass the muster of the first builders. Or Harry didn't at least. They even considered returning back to the station of the second builders and consult the virtual Dumbledore. Harry also hinted that he could return alone, which could possibly allow Hermione to pass. He quickly added that he felt uncomfortable with letting her to continue on her own.

Hermione made her own comment to his proposal, "I don't think it's a good idea either. While the inner system might let me through, the outer one probably wanted you to come with me. I believe the AI left by the second builders cares about what's happening on the surface to some extent. Also, it let us go on so it must think that we are ready and that we need to hurry."

"So you believe that the purpose of the simulation room wasn't to test us but to prepare us?"

"Maybe the chambers before the entry to the living area were meant to test us. Once it scanned our minds, it knew that we were worthy candidates."

"What if it merely sensed our irritation and allowed us to see this so we could understand why were those tests necessary?"

"And what exactly have learned by coming here? Sure, there is a nice shiny ball out there but we still have no idea what it wants."

In the end, they decided to spend at least two days there and try to crack the test before trying whether the road back was still open to them. As they lay in their bunks that night, Hermione kept pondering about what the sphere could possibly want from them. It was clear to her that one of the requirements was their willingness to fight against the corruption of the wizarding world. Then again, there was corruption in the non-magical world as well, so why were the wizards singled out?

The next obvious quality were the lengths to which they were willing to go to achieve that. The thought troubled Hermione. How could ruthlessness and cold-bloodedness be considered a quality? Especially since the third builders had put such an emphasis on logic and reason. Maybe she was reading it wrong. Maybe it wasn't about the things they were wiling to do to their enemies.

Both Harry and Hermione dreamed that night. To be more precise, Hermione did - Harry had a scar-vision. He saw Voldemort ruling his realm with an iron fist, revelling in the cruelty of his reign. Voldemort still had enemies among wizards for the time being but Harry wondered where all the destructive power of his followers would be turned to once that meagre opposition was destroyed.

Hermione's dream was inspired by the virtual missions they went through. She relived the destruction of the Ministry of Magic and then dreamt on about fighting whatever was left. The dream didn't account for Voldemort because Hermione wasn't aiming that high. All she wanted was to destroy the front he was using to cover himself - the magical society. In the end, she found herself in a world where nothing that wizards took for granted existed. Magical schools, shops, floo network, Aurors, Quidditch - every survivor of the purge found himself in a vacuum. As the dream was ending, Hermione asked herself whether she really wanted to live in such a world. There was only one answer: if it was necessary, she would do whatever it took to succeed.

They pondered their dreams when they woke up. They ate their breakfast in silence even though Hermione already knew what she had to say to Harry. The final requirement of the first builders was so simple that it could be described by one word: sacrifice. It was logical - it would be hypocritical to be willing to commit atrocities on the others and yet unwilling to sacrifice anything yourself. It probably took her so long to realize it because she had acknowledged that as obvious already.

A paradox occurred to her: the system deemed her capable of sacrifices and yet refused Harry, who was the most selfless and fearless person she ever met. What it could possibly be that Harry was lacking in this department? He was willing to die for the cause - something that even Hermione would prefer to avoid. She shared her observations with Harry once they left the cabin.

Harry pondered aloud, "Strange. What is it that you have that I don't have? We were in this together from the beginning. In fact, you've got so much more to live for and hence so much more to loose."

"Let's concentrate on the time before the beginning and all the other times we weren't together." suggested Hermione.

"Well, that's what I'm talking about. You had a family when you were growing up, I didn't."

There was a pause. After a while, Hermione made a proposition, "Let's touch the sphere again. Both of us at the same time."

"What good will it make? We still haven't figured out what it wants from me."

"Maybe something's going to be different this time. I would give us a hint."

In the end, they approached the rod and raised their hands. Harry nodded at his companion and they both touched the ball. The result wasn't much different from the last time but the tone was slightly different (at least Hermione claimed so).

They seated themselves next to the cabin to recuperate from the mind probe. After some time, Hermione voiced her theory again, "Let's focus on what I've said earlier. I grew up with my parents, you grew up with the Dursleys. However, both of us were different from our peers because of our magic and thus somewhat lonely."

"Somewhat? I' m sorry, Hermione, but that's an understatement."

She contemplated it for a while and then spoke, "You know maybe that's it. As I see it, there are two possible options. It's possible that the system considers me more willing to sacrifice something because I'll still be left with things to live for when all is done. You on the other hand..."

Harry frowned as Hermione trailed off. He asked after a moment, "And the other option?"

She stroked her chin and answered in an uneasy tone, "Well, it's possible that the problem are your feelings towards muggles. I think it's quite obvious that the AI at the station is on their side."

"Well, I only ever received mistreatment from them but that doesn't mean I would pick some pure-blood maniacs over them."

"This is about sacrifice, remember? Would you pick the non-magical people over yourself?"

Harry paused for a moment and then answered, "Well, it crossed my mind that this trip was without a return ticket. However, if this helps to bring Voldemort's downfall, then yes, I am willing to die for this."

Hermione nodded and then continued her theory, "And now we are getting to the core of it. We might return back to the surface or we might not. That's not the point however. Back to the differences between us. If I understand this correctly, the first home you ever knew was the magical world."

"Yes, Hogwarts."

"See? It wasn't like that for me. I already had a home in the non-magical world. I might be different than muggles but I can still relate to them more than I do to wizards. Magic was never something that defined me. I rather always considered it as something interesting to be examined, from a scientific point of view. Unlike you."

"What are you implying?"

"Think. The first and second builders had much larger knowledge of magic, science and technology than us. We can assume from the simulations at the station that whatever this is, it's meant to protect humanity from wizards. So we are back to the main question: are you willing to sacrifice all the things that are special in your life?"

Harry didn't answer. He paced around a little and contemplated something. Then he turned to Hermione, pointed his finger at her and asked, "Wait a minute. Do you actually believe that the sphere wants me to reach some kind of an internal conviction?"

"Uhm... Yes?"

"Doesn't that sound kind of weird to you?"

"Not so much, considering everything. Why?"

"If I just reach an internal conviction and the sphere lets me through, what will prevent me from changing my mind later?"

"I'm sure the builders though about that."

Harry stood up after a minute or two and proposed, "OK, let's try it."

"I don't think it will work yet but yes, let's."

They touched the sphere and though they were rejected once again, the rejection tone changed even further than the last time.

"What now? Shall we return to the station and go through more simulations?" asked Harry.

"No, I don't think so. The system let us through because we couldn't learn anything more from it. I guess we are too advanced to consider those simulations as anything more than glorified computer games."

Harry nodded and then went inside the cabin without another word. Hermione remained outside at first and examined the huge cylindrical object. She was unable to find anything of interest and got tired of the futile effort after some time. She entered the cabin to see how her friend was doing.

Harry was cleaning himself with a refreshing wipe at the moment and hastily "zipped" his under-suit when he saw her entering. Hermione opened a bottle of water for herself and tossed another to Harry. He took a few swigs and then climbed on his bunk to rest and think. Hermione considered leaving again when Harry told her, "You know, if you have any suggestions, I would like to hear them." Obviously, he had no idea how to proceed.

"Very well, let's talk," replied Hermione.

He propped himself on his elbow and asked, "Am I right to assume that you still don't wish to continue on your own?"

"Yes. I would feel more comfortable if you accompanied me."

"So be it," agreed Harry and lied down again.

There was a moment of silence and then Hermione asked, "Is this all about the Dursleys?"

Harry laughed darkly and retorted, "Who else? Don't you think that if I loved them as much as you love your parents that I wouldn't sacrifice even my own magic itself to save them?"

Something nibbled at her mind as he said that. She shook her head and spoke, "OK, let's summarize it. The sphere wants us to have the best interests of the non-magical population of this planet. We have to be willing to sacrifice anything, including the magical world and magic itself, to achieve this. And it goes without saying that whatever it is that we shall find, we must not use it for our own purposes."

"Do you think that using whatever technology lies further will suck us dry and leave us as squibs?"

"Would that be a problem?"

Harry laughed and then cried out, "Are you nuts? We are probably going to die here anyway!"

Hermione laughed as well and commented, "I saw that film as well."

"What film?"

"Oh, never mind."

They remained silent for a time.

"Do you know what bugs me most?" asked Harry.

"Huh?"

"What we are doing is bound to make the Dursleys extremely happy."

"Yes. They are going to profit from it. But so are my parents so that averages itself out. So what matters in the end is this: many pure-blood wizards are going to be quite pissed off. Remember this: who placed you with the Dursleys? Who made you return there again and again? Who forbid you from using magic there? Who let the Dursleys know about this? Who made the Dursleys hate magic so much? Do you get my point?"

Harry glared at her and growled, "Don't. Do not try to shift the blame away from them."

"Calm down. Remember what we saw in that spy vision. Whatever happens, the perfectly normal world the Dursleys loved so much is probably gone."

Harry didn't answer and started to suit up instead. Hermione followed him outside. He approached the sphere and reached to touch it. He changed his mind when his fingers were mere centimetres from its surface and pulled his hand back.

They spent some more time examining the hangar and the huge cylindrical object. Not that there was much left to examine. Harry looked at the place where the object was disappearing in the wall. The space between the object and the insides of the hole was less then a millimetre wide so he couldn't see anything in there.

"What do you think it is?" he asked and nodded towards the object.

"I don't know. It's possible that this is our goal and we just need to use the sphere to activate it. Or maybe it's a safe and what we need is inside. It could also be just another transport further."

"To a base built by builders who came even before the first builders? Nice."

In the end, there was nothing else to do than to try their luck again and touch the sphere. Harry was quite sure that his point of view didn't change during the last few hours. So, it came as a surprise for both of them when the experience turned quite different soon. It started with the usual mind probe. Then, instead of being let to collapse to the floor, Harry and Hermione felt their hands being glued to the sphere. They hung on the surface of the ball as the mental probe returned, deeper than ever before. They felt some artificial presence poking through their minds. It was different though - different from mere reading. Both of them felt some kind of finality from it before they lost their consciousnesses.

They awoke on the floor some undetermined time later. Their heads hurt like hell and their bodies ached from being suspended by their arms and the subsequent nap in uncomfortable positions. The sat up and looked around groggily. Harry was gathering strength to say a few choice words when he saw it.

"Holy crow, look at that," he told Hermione. He wanted to make it sound more like an exclamation but he was too weak for that.

Hermione followed the direction he was looking in and noticed it as well. The surface of the cylinder had been completely smooth before. Not any more. There was a thin seam on the side of the cylinder. It formed a square about four metres big.

Hermione tried to stand up but the vertigo she felt convinced her to give it a while. Instead, she thought about what happened with the sphere.

"Have you felt it? It wasn't just reading our minds," she said.

Harry shook his head and agreed, "You are right. It almost felt like..." Harry paused and then realized that he somehow knew the answer. "It was some kind of an unbreakable vow," he finished.

Hermione just nodded.

Harry theorized further, "But why all the trouble? If it could just bind our minds..."

"I think we had to agree to this voluntarily, just like with the unbreakable vow. Once we did that, it didn't matter whether we were truly convinced or not. Now the system can be sure that we won't do something stupid, that we won't change our minds."

Harry finally clambered to his feet and a step towards the seam in the surface of the cylinder. It sensed his approach and another seam divided the rectangle in two vertically. Hermione stood up as well and grasped on the rod to support herself.

"Is happening what I think is happening?" uttered Harry.

The whole square started to move outwards from the cylinder. Once the twenty inches thick plate was fully above the surface of the cylinder, the rectangles parted and slid to the sides. There was another layer underneath but it was already moving. Finally, the most internal door unlocked with a hiss and moved inside a little before rolling up. The interior of the cylinder was opened to them.

They shared a glance and briefly considered getting some rest from their ordeal first. Their curiosity got the better of them though and they walked in. They saw immediately that the second builders had been inside as well. The cylinder itself had been obviously built by the first builders.

The cylinder narrowed towards one end so the shape of the object was more bullet-like. The length of the interior was fifteen metres but Harry and Hermione suspected that the real length was considerably bigger. They believed that part of the object was barred to them because they noticed a panel at the back of the internal space. The panel was similar to the ones they had seen back in the circular room and assumed that it could be removed to access some internal machinery of the object. At the front (the narrow end) was something that looked like a control desk. Only, there were no visible control elements. Harry surmised that the first builders controlled their technologies with their minds.

The interior also contained elements which had been attached by the second builders to the superstructure of the first builders. The "cockpit" area sported several seats equipped by seatbelts. Their orientation was rather strange. The backs of the seats were on the floor so a person seated on one of them had his knees upwards and his head pointed toward the back of the object.

On the floor between the rows of the seats was a ladder which led to another contribution of the second builders. A closer inspection revealed that it was some kind of a living module similar to the cabin outside. The dimensions were much smaller though - the module was shaped like a curved plate, no more than meter and a half thick. Its walls were quite thin. It was "glued" to the wall on the opposite side from the entrance. It had no airlock so the whole inside of the cabin had to be exposed to the outer atmosphere every time anybody wanted to get in or out. There were two sleeping berths and some kind of a toilet. There were also two empty cupboards. Everything had the same strange orientation as the seats.

"What do you make of this?" asked Harry.

"What do you think?" asked Hermione back.

"Well, it looks like some kind of a ship to me."

Hermione made no comment to that and kept looking around.

"Shall we return to the cabin and sleep on it?" asked Harry, still weary from the mind probe.

Hermione shook her head and said, "I think we can sleep here. Bring the cart from the cabin please."

It took them five minutes to move all their remaining supplies in the cupboards.

"How do we start this?" asked Hermione when they were done.

"Just strap yourself in, I'll join you in a moment," replied Harry.

While Hermione headed to the front of the ship, Harry made a quick detour outside and quickly brushed the sphere. When he returned, the door started to close behind him. First the outer ones, then the inner ones. When each layer snapped in position, it meshed seamlessly with the hull of the ship. By the time the plate that formed the internal door rolled down, Harry was already strapping himself in the seat next to Hermione.

The ship shook, as the clamps around her were unlocked. Then it shook again, as it began moving.

"I guess we aren't going to teleport this time," commented Hermione.

"I hope we have secured all the supplies well enough," remarked Harry.

The ship kept moving. Harry and Hermione estimated that it left the hangar completely already. Then they felt that the ship started to tilt its nose down.

"Now I understand why everything is sideways here," commented Harry.

"Aye. It seems we are going ever deeper," replied Hermione.

"Well, it won't be much longer before we penetrate the Earth's crust," remarked Harry glumly.

"I believe we can safely consider this craft as magma-proof."

The ship was completely vertical before too long. The back of the ship became "up" while the front was "down". The ladder was needed to reach the living module which looked like a swallow nest from the new perspective. Harry and Hermione noticed that the acceleration wasn't as big as they expected which hinted that they weren't in a free fall.

After long minutes of descend, something changed. They slowed down a little. Harry was about to say something to Hermione when they were suddenly dropped. They yelped in surprise from the sudden feeling of falling. It lasted only a moment, then everything trembled as the ship hit something. That something was fortunately yielding but Hermione cried in pain nevertheless.

"I've bit my tongue!" she complained.

"All the way through?" asked Harry absently. He was turning his head around, looking for signs of structural damage.

"No," answered Hermione.

The ship started to lean again and if it hadn't been for the seatbelts, they would have fallen from they seats "forward". Then they started to move again and the ship righted itself (its nose was pointing down again). It felt strange. It didn't take them long to realize that they were flowing in something - something thick. The ship also wasn't completely steady as it had been before the drop.

"Do you think the same thing I'm thinking?" asked Harry. He had a good idea what they were flowing in.

"I need water," stated Hermione instead of an answer.

"You can't leave the seat now! It's not safe!"

Hermione had to agree with Harry - there were turbulences around. They were small for the most of the time but they managed to tilt the ship sometimes. Also, the ship was sometimes jarred as it scraped against something solid, though that occurred only rarely. Harry looked around for some harnesses that would secure the passengers while they climbed the ladder but it seemed that the builders expected the travellers to be strong enough not to need them. Then a thought occurred to him.

"Hermione? Do you think we could do magic here?" he asked.

"That would be a little difficult to test since we don't have our wands."

Harry grumbled in response and thought about their options. His thoughts were interrupted when Hermione added, "And don't you think about actually trying something, I don't want to get stuck here."

They sat in silence while they endured the bumps on the road. They finally got to recuperate from their ordeal with the sphere. It was almost two hours later when the turbulences started to abate and they didn't feel any impacts.

"OK, I'm going up! I need to pee anyway," resolved Hermione.

"If you must. Be careful though. I'll remain in the seat, in case something happens."

Hermione nodded and started to unbuckle herself.

"Hey, wait. I don't see anything around here to secure people when they aren't in their seats but it's hard to believe that the builders wouldn't think about it. Maybe there's something in these suits to prevent you from falling if we suddenly crashed into something?"

Hermione tried to find something but lost her patience soon enough. She vaulted over the side of her seat and grabbed the ladder. Harry watched her as she reached the module and climbed inside.

"The air should be good now. Taking the helmet off," reported Hermione to him through her suit.

"OK, stay in contact." replied Harry.

He heard her moving around and opening the cupboards. Afterwards there were some strange sounds and cussing which led him to believe that she was trying to operate the toilet.

"Everything OK in there?" he called. She made no answer, she probably couldn't hear him.

"I'm done, Harry. Unless you need something here, I would like to lie down now," she reported after some time.

"Are you sure? What if the module comes loose and falls off?"

"Then there's a pretty good chance that it will fall on your head and crush you."

"Very well. Keep the suit on and the helmet near though."

There was some more rustling and then silence. Harry tried to make himself comfortable. At first, he thought that he shouldn't fall asleep but then he realized that there was no point of staying awake since there were no indicators on the dashboard that he could observe and since he would wake up if they crashed into something.

He woke about three hours later, a little bit stiff. Hermione was calling him.

"Everything's OK down here, I've just taken a little nap. Would you mind if I came up?"

"It's little cramped in here. Wait till I get down. I want to try something anyway."

The something she wanted to try was the feature of their suits Harry had talked about. She found out that the boots and gloves could be "magnetized" to attach themselves to the material from which the ship and the ladder (and the "dock" of the first builders) were made.

"Well, this could help if the ride got a bit rockier and you weren't in a seat," commented Harry.

"Yes. Though I don't think it's there specifically for this purpose."

Harry narrowed his ayes and asked, "Do you think we are going to need it in our destination?"

"Well, I think it's safe to assume that we are under the crust now." started Hermione.

Harry interrupted her, "OK, stop right there. I think I need to take a leak on this."

"As you wish. Make sure not to mess things up in there."

Harry returned about an hour later. He didn't get back in his seat though and continued all the way down instead.

"Do you intend to try to control this ship?" asked Hermione, not very thrilled about such an idea.

"No, I just need to stretch my legs a little," said Harry as he let go of the ladder and stepped on the control desk.

"I hope your boots are off," reminded him Hermione, fearing a possible interference with the controls of the ship.

"Don't worry," said Harry as he sat on an edge of the desk. He though about climbing even lower. Instead, he turned is head up and asked, "So, what do you think is our destination?"

"Well, the boots and gloves point on a low-gravity environment."

"Yes, that much is obvious. Though in our case, the low gravity environment doesn't mean space."

"No, it probably doesn't."

Harry shook his head, as if he didn't want to believe it, and then said, "So we are actually going all the way to the core?"

"Not necessarily."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there's a zero gravity in there but there are other possibilities."

"Such as?"

"Well, this ship is just a little transport boat - it can't possibly do what we need it to do. So I guess we are headed for something bigger that floats in the area of low gravity. Maybe a bigger ship or another station. It would be hard to build something that would withstand the temperatures, radiation and pressure of the outer core but not impossible with everything that we have seen so far. It's also possible that our destination is actually space."

"Then why are we going down?"

"I don't know, maybe there's some kind of a portal which needs the energy from the radioactive decay inside the planet."

Harry thought for a while and then said, "Wait a minute." He climbed back to his seat and once he strapped himself in, he continued, "If it truly is the last option, then there is a real possibility that we shall meet the aliens who built this!"

"If there are aliens involved, then we don't have to meet them at all. Maybe they are extinct. Maybe our destination is an automatized installation on Moon or Mars."

"Are you crazy? A race that has technology to build a magma-submarine wouldn't bother with the said submarine if they wanted to get somebody to Mars! They would simply build a starship!"

"Hmm. You are right. Either our destination is inside the Earth, or really far away from it."

"Still, it's little hard to imagine a planet core as launching point for starships."

"True."

They rode in silence for the next few hours. Harry knew better then to sleep but drowsing seemed all right for as long as they shifted occasionally. Gradually, the ride became smoother as the nature of the magma around them changed. It took them some time to notice though.

"What do you think this means?" asked Harry after they "observed" this for a while.

"That we left the upper mantle? We can't be sure since we don't know our velocity but it's probable," answered Hermione.

"So there should be no more bumps?"

"Well, there are still turbulences. Especially in the outer core, if that's where are we going."

They resumed their silence again and just sat in their seats for several more hours. Hermione seemed bored while Harry kept looking around.

"What is it?" she asked him when she noticed it.

He turned to her and replied, "Well, as we get deeper, the gravity and viscosity decreases but the pressure increases, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm just thinking about all that pressure and heat."

"That's nothing compared to conditions on the surface of the inner core. The temperature there is same as on the surface of Sun and the pressure is millions of atmospheres. I though we talked about it already - this shuttle won't go anywhere where it wouldn't survive."

"Yeah, I know. Still, this feels like a big, hollow nut just waiting to be crushed."

Hermione looked around all the redundant empty space and commented, "Well, the second builders could have filled the space more. A few seats, a toilet and two bunks? I feel like I am inside a silo."

Harry nodded and then asked, "How long is this going to take?"

"I would say days from the time it took to penetrate the upper mantle."

"In that case, I think I'll move in the module. I won't see this emptiness in there at least."

"Hmm. It's going to be cramped but I would like to join you."

"Shouldn't somebody stay to keep watch?"

"On what?"

"True. Let's go."

It was cramped indeed but they managed to get themselves in their bunks all right. Hermione complained about not having any books to read. Harry asked her to be silent and turned the lights off. As he was falling asleep, he tried to pretend that he was in a cabin on a ferry.

Their hunger was their only measure of time in the next few days. Hermione insisted that they should eat only when they were truly hungry. They also established that even though they were staying in the living module for most of their time, at least one of them should always keep the space-suit on (in case something happened and the module was damaged).

They rehashed their theories about the builders. It was clear to both of them that the first builders weren't human. Harry was determined that they were aliens. Hermione thought that it was also possible that they were from Earth and either left or went extinct.

Finally, the turbulences started to increase in temper. The effect of those on the passengers was heightened by the fact that the gravity was steadily decreasing so even a slightest jolt could send them flying against a wall. Harry and Hermione opted to return to their seats.

"Do you think this is the outer core?" asked Harry.

"It's possible. Still, it's not like somebody was here before. Everything we know about the Earth's interior comes from seismography and mathematical models."

Harry was silent for a while and started to look around again. Then he said, "You know, if we took our helmets off, would we hear the hull groaning under the pressure?"

Hermione pressed her palm against the hull and then replied, "Well, it's better not to think about it. I'm sure the builders did a god job."

Harry remained silent for a little but then he couldn't help himself and asked another question, "Hey, you said the outer core is liquid iron and nickel. So how does it come that our ship..." Hermione stopped him by threateningly raising her finger.

They sat in their seats for long hours. With their bodily needs letting themselves be known and the end of their trip nowhere in sight, they decided to make a trip back to the module. Hermione went first and then Harry after she returned.

"Do you remember how you asked me not make a mess up there?" asked Harry. Hermione glared at him icily. "I've spilled some water in there. I hope it won't short-cut anything," he explained.

The gravity kept decreasing and it started to dawn on them that maybe the shuttle intended to keep going down until there was nowhere left to go.

"You know, what if our purpose here is something truly epic?" mused Harry.

"What?"

"You know, maybe we are supposed to reach the center of the Earth where we shall perish and our consciousness shall merge with the spirit of Gaia!" He intoned the last bit dramatically.

Hermione just rolled her eyes and retorted, "The center of the Earth is unreachable. The inner core is solid and impossibly hard. Unpenetrable."

Some hours after that conversation, they were jolted as the ship came in contact with something solid.

"We crashed! We crashed into the inner core!" cried Harry in panic.

The tremors continued and Harry and Hermione were being jostled in their seats. They had no idea what was happening outside. Suddenly, it all stopped. There was one last tremor that shook the entire ship and then nothing apart from a feeling of acceleration which pushed them "upward" (toward the back of the ship). They dared not to unbuckle themselves while it lasted.

After some time, the state of low gravity returned. Their ride remained smooth, just like it was before the ship had been dropped into magma. Harry made a quick trip to the module and then Hermione, who remained there for the time being.

"How much further?" asked Harry through the radio.

"About thousand kilometres."

Something started to happen before they could cover such distance. They started to decelerate and then came to a stop with a slight tremor. They were clamped in something and turned into another direction. Once again, there was one last jolt and they started to accelerate again.

"I'm going down," Hermione called Harry.

"No, stay there. Just keep your suit on."

"OK."

"Hermione, do you realize it? There's some machinery out there! We are in the inner core and there's machinery!"

"Are you sure? Even after all we've seen, this is unbelievable."

As they travelled on, the gravity almost completely vanished. Once, they passed through an area which vibrated and they could feel it through the hull. Finally, they came to a stop. Harry sat still for a moment and then looked around. He yelped when he saw the door opening.

"What is it?" cried Hermione and opened the hatch of the module.

Harry unbuckled his seat-belt and with a slight shove of his hands, he sent himself towards her. There was darkness outside but not total. They thought that it was the light from ship's interior.

"I would like to make a quick trip inside and then we can go explore," said Harry and waited for Hermione to move.

The girl stared at the door in consternation for a moment. Then she snapped out of it and wailed, "The door is opened! The pressure! These flimsy space-suits can't hold!"

Harry grabbed hear and held her still while he looked into her eyes, "Calm down! The conditions outside the ship are same as they were inside. Now let me pass."

He was in and out in five minutes. Slowly, the two of them approached the door. In their nervousness, it took them a moment or two before they remembered to activate their boots and gloves. They turned the lights on and another feature as well - vision enhancement for low-visibility environments. They walked out of the shuttle.

They found themselves in a hangar similar to the one they departed from in the Earth's crust. The used material was different but the architecture and style was the same. However, the wall on the opposite side from the ship was missing and the dock opened into an empty space. Further inspection also revealed an interesting discrepancy in the structure of the hangar. It seemed that anything that had to do with the means of their arrival was much younger then the rest. Both the new parts and old ones had been obviously built by the first builders - just not the same first builders.

"The builders one-B planned for the second builders to lead somebody here someday," whispered Harry.

Hermione turned to him and waited for further explanation.

Harry continued, "At the beginning, the builders one-A have built this facility for reasons unknown to us. Back then, it probably wasn't possible to reach this place by the means we have used. Then something, probably emergence of our race, convinced their descendants, builders one-B, to provide access to this place for, let's say, emergency purposes. I'm not exactly sure why they used a shuttle instead of a portal but I guess their solution was simpler for some reason. When they were done, they took a group a people, some kind of Atlanteans, and taught them sciences. These people became the second builders and were tasked with building their own underground station right next to the one of their masters. They continued with their work after the first builders left - the sphere allowed them inside the shuttle but I think they were never themselves down here since we can see no marks of their presence. When it was all done, they continued with the upper part of the facility and started to make their legacy. They created the AI and the portal. Their group started to fall apart afterwards but their descendants continued their work and became the third builders. It's possible that they were not only in Egypt but in other ancient parts of the world as well - like China."

Hermione nodded and appraised his theory, "Well, that's one possibility of how it happened. There are others but this seems most plausible."

"The question remains, why have the builders one-A built this place in the first place, huh?" asked Harry rhetorically. It was something that neither of them had any clues about but they were sure that the place was powerful. Both of them were feeling it ever since their arrival. It was a feeling of a great energy, as if the place was saturated with it. They had no idea what it was or why they were able to feel it.

They took a few steps towards the edge of the hangar and peered over it. There was nothing. It took them a while before they thought to look up. There was a walkway.

"I believe we are upside-down," remarked Harry.

They activated the " magnetization" of their gloves, deactivated it in the their boots and sent themselves "up" with a light tap of their feet. Once they were on their feet again, they walked towards the walkway. It stretched into the darkness. After gazing into that darkness for a while, they realized that there was a small amount of ambient light. Still, they couldn't see anything concrete but they had a feeling that the space was enormous.

"This would be better with a rope," said Hermione, eyeing the walkway suspended in the void.

"Well, unless you brought one, we'll have to do without it. Look at it this way though, if you slip from the bridge, you won't fall anywhere," replied Harry and stepped on the walkway. Hermione followed him.

They walked for about a minute when Hermione saw something in the corner of her eye. She quickly turned her head but it was already disappearing.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"I saw something red in distance. Something that glowed red I mean."

Harry gazed in the direction she pointed in.

"It's gone. It was covered by something big," explained Hermione.

Harry tensed and asked, "Like some kind of an animal?"

"No! An object. And from the way that patch of red was covered, I'd say it wasn't as much moving as it was revolving."

"Revolving? Like some kind of a cog in a machinery?"

Hermione shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Well, I have to admit that it's more believable than if all this space was empty. Because than it would be harder to compensate for all the pressure from the outside."

"All this space..." echoed Harry.

"Huh?"

"Hermione, how far was that red glow?"

"I have no idea."

Harry thought for a moment and then proclaimed, "Lights off. Let's try to adjust those vision enhancers."

After ten minutes of peering into the darkness, they weren't much wiser. The managed to catch one more glimpse of something in the distance - probably the wall of the cavity, red hot from the heat outside. Apart from that, they gained a distinct feeling of being inside of a gigantic machine.

"I guess it's a good thing it's so dark here," remarked Harry.

"Why?"

"Can you imagine what it would be like if we could see the vastness of this place? It would crush us! Now we can just pretend that this walkway is suspended in void."

"I'm not quite sure which one is worse..."

They started to walk again. The feeling of great energy everywhere around them persisted. They wondered whether the machine wasn't some kind of a power-source and what exactly was it supposed to power. While they walked, they saw all sorts of contraptions attached to the sides of the walkway. They couldn't fathom their purpose but most of them had some kind of spikes on them (to serve as antennas maybe). Perhaps they were some kind of control elements or transmitters?

It took them some time, with the zero-gravity and magnetized boots, but they finally arrived at a place where the walkway widened. What they arrived at was some kind of a platform suspended in the void. The whole structure was roughly oval in shape but it consisted of several smaller platforms actually. Some of those were circular, others had been built as a set of concentric rings. Harry and Hermione searched around the platform, not making any sense of what they saw.

"Is this some kind of a control centre? Some kind of a bridge?" wondered Hermione.

"More likely an engineering. Though I believe it wasn't used since this place was finished," theorized Harry.

"Well, whatever this is, they only way to control it is by your mind, just like the shuttle."

They reached the central part when their visors highlighted something for them. They shared a glance and then started to walk towards it. As they drew closer, they saw that it was just another control panel ("just another" being figurative since every panel they had seen so far was unique). They also found out that there was no way to reach their destination by walk since it was placed on a circular dais which wasn't connected by any walkway to the ring around it. They had to activate their gloves and climb to the dais using the struts which connected the dais with the rest of the structure.

"Something tells me that the first builders had no problem with zero-gravity. Maybe they had some kind of a natural propulsion?" mused Harry.

Once they stood on their feet again, they took a closer look on the panel. The first thing they noticed about it was the most anomalous element - some kind of contraption attached to it. They felt being drawn to it as soon as they saw it. They suspected that this draw had something to do with the sphere.

"Is this it?" asked Hermione incredulously. Harry made no comment.

The attachment seemed to be built by the first builders but it was tremendously out of place. Harry and Hermione stared at it for a moment. Then they started to examine it from all the possible angles. It was no use though - no matter how they looked on it, their eyes gave them the very same information every time. It was in their brains where the problem was. Harry and Hermione simply couldn't wrap their minds around it. They couldn't believe that this was truly what they came for. Still, the shape was roughly corresponding with what was commonly available in stores and the functionality was probably the same as well.

"A flip-switch?!" exclaimed Hermione again, even more incredulously then before.

What they saw was undeniable however. A flips-switch, and a very flimsily looking one to boot, was the central part of the contraption. The rest probably served as an interface between the switch and the panel.

"Yeah," whispered Harry absently.

"Excuse me but this looks like something from an electronic play-kit of a first-grader! That is, if you ignore how... alien it looks."

While the whole thing was of first-builder origin, it looked like it was meant to be used by humans. The thing was, a human would design the switch differently - whoever had made the switch, had not got a very good understanding how humans used their hands to handle things. Still, it was just a simple switch - Harry didn't want to imagine how a toilet for humans designed by the first-builders would look like.

"OK, the builders one-B wanted the humans to use it but they didn't want anybody down here, not even the builders two, until it was necessary - which it wasn't until now," pondered Harry aloud.

"Still, I can't believe that our goal is something that looks so... cheap."

"Well, considering how expansive everything we have seen so far must have been it's not so surprising that they ran out of their budget in the end..."

They stood by the control panel for a while, considering their next course of action. Both of them felt the compulsion which drew them towards the flip-switch increasing.

"What are we going to do?" asked Hermione.

"Flip it?" replied Harry.

"What if something bad happens?"

"Well, I guess we can always flip it back."

They stood motionless for a while.

"Well?" asked Harry.

"You are the chosen one - you do the honours," said Hermione.

Harry made one step forward and reached out, his index finger extended. Carefully, he applied some pressure on the flimsy stick of the switch.

"I think it's stuck," he said.

"Maybe it's just rusty. Let me look at it," said Hermione and took a closer look.

They fiddled with the switch for a minute or two. In the end, Harry pressed harder and the stick finally gave way. Harry overextended though and the stick snapped off when it reached the other position. It rebounded from the surface of the panel and started to float into the void. Harry and Hermione attempted to to catch it but their suits and magnetized boots didn't allow for quick movement.

"Don't let it get away!" shrieked Hermione.

"I'm not going to dive after it!" refused Harry.

They turned their attention back to the flip-switch and started to examine whether they could still flip the switch back. Their inspection revealed that it would be probably impossible even with the original stick. They decided to wait and see what happens.

"Harry, look!" exclaimed Hermione about two hours later.

Harry looked in the direction she was pointing in. There was a patch of red glow in the distance. It was slowly growing as the body that obstructed their view slowly moved out of the way. Their observation confirmed that the machinery around them was truly revolving.

"This is wrong. It moved faster before," noticed Hermione.

"Do you think we caused this? Maybe this other wheel turns at a different speed."

They watched as the patch of red grew bigger and subsequently as it shrank. They started to doubt that there was any point of staying at the platform and decided to return back. As they walked to the "dock", they began to feel that the great power around them lessened.

"What if we turned the whole thing off?" wondered Hermione.

"Then the shuttle will probably loose power and we shall never return to the surface. Of course, the living module and our suits will loose power as well."

"Well, we have always suspected that this might be a one-way trip."

* * *

When the British prime minister woke up that morning, he subconsciously felt that something was different. He went through the usual motions and made his way to his office. He briefly glanced at the Death Eater charged with keeping an eye on him before he closed the door behind him.

As the morning progressed, the prime minister felt more and more free of his magical fetters. He didn't quite understand what it meant. Were they testing him to see if was willing to betray them? In the end, he decided to take a closer look at the Death Eater outside. One glance at his face was enough to convince him - the dark wizard appeared unsure.

Their eyes met. The wizard made one final attempt at casting magic and then lunged at the prime minister. There was a brief scuffle. Suddenly, the Death Eater was dragged of the prime minister and restrained by the chief of security. As his colleagues dragged the ex-wizard away, the chief of security turned his attention at the prime minister. No words were needed to understand that both men had had the same experience that morning.

"Learn what he knows," instructed the prime minister. "Though if this is happening all over the country, then the military will take him of your hands soon. As of now, we can consider ourselves in war with these... terrorists."

When he returned to his office, he started to make phone-calls immediately. His theory proved sound - the entire military leadership was free again. They agreed to make an emergency meeting of most of the people who knew about the existence of the magical world.

When the prime minister put the phone down, he stretched his neck and cleared his throat. He took a breath and then let out a deep, evil laugh.

Epilogue:

about two years later

A creature looking very much like a dragon appeared above the control platform in the core. A random observer would probably rejoice and exclaim that it was a warrior of the first builders sent to save the world. Alas, the dragon was a mere technician and a very low-ranking one to boot.

The technician looked around the ancient machinery and he would probably growl something like, "They aren't paying me enough for this." That is, if their economy used money. However, the fact remained that the technician was annoyed.

When the Earth node had gone off-line suddenly two Earth years ago, the main reaction of his superiors had been incomprehension rather than alarm. After all, the Earth was one of the more backwater nodes of The Network. Still, the problem had had to be fixed and so he had travelled to the nearest node and then had flown the rest of the way through conventional means. In the old rusty ship they had given him, it had taken quite a long time. At least he had used the time to take a nap.

It was clear to the technician that the core was in stand-by mode. If that was the case, had it been possible to restart the node remotely, rendering his two-year voyage unnecessary? He flapped his wings and landed on the central platform, deciding that it was a good place to start. He took out some kind of a device from his tool-belt and was about to head to a terminal from which he could run diagnostics and view logs when he noticed that something was off about the dais where the emergency controls were located.

Another flap of his wings carried him on the dais. He stared at the device attached to one of the panel in incomprehension. Further inspection revealed that the device was able to connect to the control panel and order it to issue the halt command. He wondered whether the builders of this node had forgotten their tools behind. Then the device had malfunctioned probably. Either way, it was a serious negligence and a possible security threat.

The technician shook his head, not wanting to dwell on the matter for another second. He tore the device off and connected his tool to the panel instead. Then he released two little spheres which flew off and started to scan the central platform for anything else that shouldn't be there. In the meantime, the technician ran the diagnostics, downloaded the logs, updated the firmware and performed other general maintenance. When he was done, he returned to his ship. Nobody would ever read the logs and the discovered device would be forgotten in a corner of the storage area of the ship.

* * *

When Neville Longbottom woke up one morning, he subconsciously felt that something was different. He went through the usual morning motions and reflected on the passed two years.

It all began with the death of Voldemort. Or maybe that was just a side effect of the general disappearance of magic. At least, that's what most wizards called it. Those who worked with magical creatures and plants (like Neville himself) perceived it as a major change of the nature of magic. It was true that all wizards, goblins, house-elves and such lost their magic. As a result, all the magical wards failed, magical objects became useless, infery dropped dead and so on.

However, naturally evolved magical creatures (e.g. thestrals) and plants kept their properties (though in diluted form in some cases). People like Neville Longbottom were able to use this fact to their advantage during the dark days that followed. As if the loss of magic wasn't bad enough by itself, the muggles made their move then. Nobody knew how so many of them knew about the magical world or why they attacked but they were brutal in their methods. They obliterated the centres of the magical community, seized all the assets and knowledge they could lay their hands on and captured any wizards and witches who survived an encounter with them.

Luckily, it soon became rather complicated to identify wizards since their most prominent trait - magic - was gone. The muggleborns and certain half-bloods had it the easiest - they easily assimilated with the non-magical population and unlike the purebloods they had enough sense to never shout anything about filthy muggles. The purebloods had three choices: die, learn how to keep a low profile in a muggle society, or go into hiding.

And that was where Neville's skills with plants came into play. He managed to create a magical sanctuary for himself in one of the more sparsely populated areas of Scotland while relying solely on properties of magical plants. It was rather difficult, especially since only a few of those plants thrived in the environment of British isles, but he was successful in the end. Explaining how his micro-ecosystem worked and what kind of protections it provided him with would take Neville a few months (assuming that his audience would consist solely of experts) but the bottom line was that he could live in relative safety while other old families were hunted like vermin.

Still unbeknownst to Neville, all of that was about to change. Something was different already however, that much he could feel. That feeling was reinforced by the observations he made on his plants while he made his usual rounds around them. Some of them seemed different - more powerful.

By the noon, this feeling reached its peak. Neville ran to a place in his garden where a box with his wand and other valuables was hidden. He dug it out and tried a few simple spells. He could barely contain his happiness when they worked.

Neville didn't know whether it was merely temporal. He suspected that a large conflict was ahead but he was unsure with whom he should side. It seemed probable to him that majority of muggleborns would join the muggles. Then he realized that the odds were going to be more even than most purebloods would be wiling to admit.

"Perhaps I should remain here for the time being. When they are done shooting it out among themselves, I'll return," mused Neville aloud. Then he took a breath and let out a deep, evil laugh.

* * *

In the base of the second builders, the ancient quantum computer powered up again. Inside it, two digital personalities came to life.

"Looks like we are back in the game," said Harry to Hermione.


End file.
